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Webinar: ITS European Congress conclusions and Best Paper awards

Mon, 27 May 2013 13:44:29 +0200

You are invited to join our webinar to hear this year's Congress conclusions directly from Chief Rapporteur Professor Eric Sampson. Also the winners of the Best Paper awards will present their work.

When: Tuesday 11 June 11:00 CET

Conclusions from the Chief Rapporteur Eric Sampson

Professor Sampson, Senior Congress Programme Adviser, will share his conclusions and reflections on this year Congress. As Chief Rapporteur, he will review the 100 plus sessions organised in Dublin.

Best Paper Awards Winners

As at every Congress, this 9th ITS European Congress will recognise exceptional contributions in the two categories Scientific and Technical papers. The Best Paper Award winners (announced at the Closing Ceremony on 7 June in Dublin) will present their work and be ready to answer your questions.

Space is limited. Register now for the webinar on 11 June now and assure your place!

Mobile phones and bank cards to replace tickets for travelling in London

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:28:04 +0200

Summary: London commuters can already use their contactless bank cards on buses, and Transport for London (TfL) is extending the system to tubes and perhaps trains. It's also considering payments using NFC on mobile phones.

Read the full article on the ZDNet website: http://www.zdnet.com/uk/mobile-phones-and-bank-cards-to-replace-tickets-for-travelling-in-london-7000013467/

Congress Webinar: presentations available

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:23:34 +0200

On 3 May the ITS European Congress team organised the first Dublin Congress webinar. Professor Eric Sampson, Senior Congress Programme Adviser, introduced this year's programme highlighting the most exciting sessions and illustrating the wide range of sessions and other events. Celine Nieuwenhuys, Congress Logistics Manager, explained how to use the brand new Congress mobile app designed to help you schedule your week and find your way around Dublin and the convention centre.

You can download the PDFs of the presentations here:

Programme Overview
Congress mobile App

Don't miss our second webinar after the Congress!

Prof. Sampson will report what happened during the week including his draft conclusions that will be presented at the Congress Closing Session. Also the winners of the Best Paper Awards will be invited to summarise their work. More information will follow soon.

ITS America: User Survey

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:32:42 +0200

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) seeks your input as we develop a web-based resource for Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) professionals.

ITS America is updating the content of the PIARC World Road Association ITS Handbook and transforming it into a series of web-based modules on key ITS topics. The current edition of the handbook can be accessed here. To ensure that the new web resource is valuable to ITS professionals around the world, we ask you to complete a 10-minute survey focusing on ITS deployment in developing and emerging economies.

Please click here to take the survey. Thank you for your input.

Amitran Workshop on Assessment Methodologies for CO2 emissions effects due to ICT in transport

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:33:03 +0200

Amitran’s second European Workshop will be held on 15 May in Brussels

The workshop will present the Amitran methodology and allow participants to focus on different use cases and provide feedback to the project. This methodology will support developers, public authorities and investors in ICT (Information and Communications Technology) solutions in making sound decisions based on reliable impact estimates, covering the complete transport chain (including passenger and freight, by road, rail and inland waterway).

The workshop will explain how stakeholders can use and benefit from Amitran, as well as collecting feedback and needs from stakeholder participants. It will also provide information on the publicly available methodology guidance that will be developed in the second half of the project.

It will be of interest to:

- Public authorities, road and public transport authorities and operators, and other bodies that invest in ITS, that wish to measure and benchmark ITS solutions in terms of their environmental benefits

- Researchers and consultants who carry out studies for the above authorities and organisations (feasibility studies, modelling, validation plans, impact assessment and longer-term monitoring)

Participation is free but on invitation only to relevant stakeholders. If you have not already received an invitation and are interested in participating, please send an email to Andrew Winder - a.winder [at] mail.ertico.com – stating your organisation, role (modeller, analyst or other technical expert, policy maker, etc) and your interest in the work of the project. Please note that places are limited.

Compass4D project consortium meets in Denmark where 90 buses will be equipped and trialed for at least one year

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:26:57 +0200

After the successful kick-off in Vigo last January, on 23 April the Compass4D Consortium met for the second time in Copenhagen. The meeting was the opportunity to plan the upcoming work and to participate in the joint workshop with ITS Denmark focusing on ITS deployment best practices.

The Copenhagen pilot site is particularly relevant to the project as the city will deploy cooperative systems on at least 90 buses and in 21 traffic signals, becoming the largest test site in Europe to do so. The route chosen for the pilot site is a central bus connection running between Copenhagen Central Station, in the city centre, and the important East Gate Station (Østerport), hub for regional, commuter and S-trains and, from 2018, the underground.

It is estimated that over 77,000 passengers are using the bus lines between the Central and East Gate stations every day.

Copenhagen is in many ways a frontier when it comes to investing in the environment, and it has been awarded the European Green Capital 2014 for its unique eco-innovative and sustainable approach in terms of urban planning. The city authorities intend to make the Danish capital the first carbon-neutral city by 2025.

This is also why Copenhagen is extremely committed to Compass4D; "this effort to upgrade our transport systems goes together well with our plan for green mobility and our ambition to be a carbon neutral city in 2025. This ITS project can really contribute to cleaner air and better functioning cities. That is the reason why we in Copenhagen want to prioritise and invest in ITS, and have already done so. It is important that these technologies are tested in different urban environments”, Ayfer Baykal, Mayor of the Technical and Environmental Administration in Copenhagen, stated.

Around 200 bus drivers will be using the ITS services. “Here in Copenhagen we have some unique challenges regarding traffic, because bikes take up a lot of space. It is going to be very exciting to see how ITS solutions like Compass4D can create better conditions for busses and help us improve traffic flow and safety throughout the city” Ms Baykal says.

In order to strengthen the relation and cooperation with the Danish partners, the Compass4D Consortium participated in the workshop organised with ITS Denmark on 24 April. Representatives of the association and the city council had the opportunity of highlighting the current national initiatives and illustrating future plans for the deployment of ITS services. “The next couple of years using ITS, we will create better traffic flows and traffic safety. The benefits will be better comfort and regularity of the busses and for the city environment. We are really looking forward to continue working with the other cities and to sharing our experiences” Steffen Rasmussen, Head of traffic design, City of Copenhagen, said.

In addition to Copenhagen, Compass4D will run in Bordeaux, Helmond, Newcastle, Thessaloniki, Verona, and Vigo. The project is coordinated by ERTICO - ITS Europe and consists of 33 partners: City of Copenhagen; City of Helmond; Newcastle City Council; City of Vigo; City of Verona; Region of Central Macedonia; Centre for Research and Technology Hellas - CERTH; Automotive Technological Centre of Galicia - CTAG; Equipos de Señalizacion y Control - ESYCSA; EUROTAXI; Federation Internationale de l’Automobile - FIA; GEOLOC Systems; Institute of Communication and Computer System - ICCS; IDIADA Automotive Technology; French Insititute of Science and Technology, Developments and Networks - IFSTTAR; IMTECH Traffic & INFRA B.V.; INFOTRIP; IRU Projects; MAT Traffic; Traffic, Ministere de l’Ecologie, du Développement Durable et de l’Energie - MEDDE; PEEK Traffic B.V.; PEEK Denmark; Siemens; Swarco Mizar; Telecom Italia; TOPOS Aquitaine; TNO; University of Newcastle; Vialis; Vitrasa; Volvo; V-TRON.

For more information on the project, please contact Pierpaolo Tona - Compass4D project coordinator.

PARC Announces Contextual Intelligence Software Platform for Automotive Industry

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:26:51 +0200

3 April 2013

PARC Software Helps Auto Manufacturers Provide Smart, Safe, Personalized Driving

Palo Alto, CA -- PARC, a Xerox company, announced significant advancements in its Contextual Intelligence (CI) Innovation Group, which has been working within a variety of industries for more than a decade. The program now includes a strong automotive focus, and provides software solutions for the auto industry to deliver a smarter, safer, and more personalized driving experience.

“The automotive industry is experiencing unprecedented technology advancements, and we’re excited to be an integral part of it,” said Stephen Hoover, CEO, PARC. “Soon, cars will anticipate drivers’ needs, stay connected and aware, and get to know more about what drivers need in the context of their situation. PARC’s work in contextual intelligence represents disruptive innovation at its best, and is set to make a significant impact on the automotive industry. The connected vehicle exemplifies one of the first real-world applications of the Internet of Things, the most significant advancement in distributed computing since the invention of the Internet itself.”

As interactive and personalization features for vehicles become more prevalent and desired by drivers, automakers are looking to build innovative cars that ‘learn’ about their owners. PARC’s breakthrough software delivers a unified communications platform of smart information feeds and prioritization of a driver’s messages, including email, Facebook, Twitter, text, and more. Through real-time monitoring of these messages over time via a secure, cloud-based platform, the car learns and defines who and what is important (such as the driver’s boss), which information has the most value to the driver at that time (such as an important meeting), and then predicts and prioritizes pertinent messages for delivery. With safety top of mind, the software reasons and identifies when and where messages can be received as not to interfere with or distract the driver.

In addition to the cloud-based software platform, PARC offers a personalized driving experience, utilizing years of research, IP, and algorithms rooted deeply in rigorous scientific research. From implementing infotainment services and content personalization, to leveraging sensor-based ‘user’ intelligence, PARC provides OEMs and suppliers with proven technology to build a car that helps drivers stay connected. Whether commuting, vacationing, or carpooling, PARC technology implemented by automakers can help drivers find the right song at the right time, locate the nearest oil change with a discount, or know where to get a cup of coffee, making sure safety remains the number one priority.

“It’s happened to all of us, you’re running late for a meeting, traffic is a mess and you’re low on gas, and maybe you’ve forgotten to eat lunch,” said Oliver Brdiczka, Manager of Contextual Intelligence, PARC. “Imagine your car being aware of your meeting, your destination, the current traffic situation, and the level of your gas tank. Based on your calendar, typical behavior, and other personal ‘data’ points, your car can offer an efficient route, a convenient gas station, and a quick bite to eat. Your car can even let your meeting companions know you are running late. This all happens without your hands ever leaving the wheel, and the car knows how to inform you at the right time, so safety is maintained.”

Jatinder Singh, PARC’s Director of Mobile Innovation Strategy, will present PARC’s CI innovations for the automotive industry on April 12 at the Autotech Council meeting’s “V2X: The Networked Car” in Santa Clara, CA.

To learn more about implementing PARC's CI software solutions for interactive vehicle projects, please contact PARC business development at engage@parc.com.

About PARC

PARC, a Xerox company, is in the Business of Breakthroughs®. Practicing open innovation, we provide custom R&D services, technology, expertise, best practices, and intellectual property to Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, startups, and government agencies and partners. We create new business options, accelerate time to market, augment internal capabilities, and reduce risk for our clients. Since its inception, PARC has pioneered many technology platforms – from the Ethernet and laser printing to the GUI and ubiquitous computing – and has enabled the creation of many industries. Incorporated as an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox in 2002, PARC today continues the research that enables breakthroughs for our clients' businesses.

WirelessCar awarded “Outstanding China Telematics Product”

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:23:10 +0200

17 April, Gothenburg, Sweden

WirelessCar awarded “Outstanding China Telematics Product ” by China Electronic Academy

China is emerging as one of the world’s leading telematics markets with vehicle sales expected to rise from 21 million units in 2013 to nearly 34 million in 2019. Frost & Sullivan predicts that “Chinese market for telematics services will swell from 0.4 million subscribers in 2012 to nearly 4.0 million subscribers by 2018.”

WirelessCar has been witnessing and contributing to the rapid growth of the mass market.

Right after having won the award for “Best China Telematics Company” at the IOVA Annual Conference in Beijing in January 2013, WirelessCar blooms at another side for its outstanding open platform where Chinese ecosystem begins to reap benefit. This award was given by China Electronic Academy (subsidiary of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) on Telematics Industry Development Forum held in Shenzhen April 10th, 2013.

The event, jointly organized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the municipal government of Shenzhen, gathered more than 1,200 exhibitors demonstrating their latest products, involving technologies from the entire electronic information industry chain.

“Again, WirelessCar has been recognized on the global Telematics scene. The early focus on China from 2008, creating the network, partnerships and organization has clearly put WirelessCar in a leading position on the China market which is being confirmed by this highly prestige award.” said Martin Rosell, Managing Director WirelessCar.

Since its initiatory footprint in China in 2008, WirelessCar began to believe in the strong potential for Chinese markets’ long-term growth. That is why WirelessCar started early to build up specific know-how with a first pilot project initiated in China in 2008. In 2011, WirelessCar founded its own subsidiaries in Beijing and Tianjin with combined knowledge of the automotive business and technology from different areas of development, testing and service operation.

WirelessCar offers connected services for customers like BMW and Audi in China, through delivering a proven and sustainable technology platform to enable customers’ ability of leveraging the benefits of open architecture.

WirelessCar has cross-sector experience in automotive and commercial vehicle industries and delivers a ready-made technology neutral shared platform based on Next Generation Telematics Pattern (NGTP). WirelessCar customers benefit from flexibility to adapt to a rapidly evolving and agile industry, ensuring the greater freedom to upgrade their services, differentiate their services from their competitors, expand in new markets with standardized services and as consequence, keeping the costs down by lowering price services in the long term run.

Together with its customers and partners, WirelessCar is stepping to the explosively new phase for telematics market in China.

Further information

WirelessCar Press Contact - Nathalie Rey - nathalie.rey@wirelesscar.com

Tel: +33 (0)6 65 858 854

About WirelessCar

WirelessCar, a premier global telematics service provider, connects both the automotive and commercial vehicle sectors enabling cross-fertilization through operational services in more than 50 countries supported by teams based in US, Europe, Brazil, China, Japan and India. WirelessCar’s white label positioning and open telematics platform allows our customers such as BMW, Volvo Cars, Allianz, Toyota MH, Volvo Trucks, Renault Trucks or Volvo Construction Equipment to leverage the full value of connected services across the entire spectrum of always being connected.

WirelessCar is part of Volvo IT, which is a global company and a subsidiary of the Volvo Group. WirelessCar operates as an independent entity addressing all vehicle manufacturers.

For further information please visit www.wirelesscar.com

Workshop Invitation: Intelligent Transport Systems in emerging markets

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:16:40 +0200

You are kindly invited to join the ITU/UNECE workshop on “Intelligent transport systems in emerging markets – drivers for safe and sustainable growth" that will take place at ITU Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on 27 June 2013.

The UNECE Inland Transport Committee (ITC) is jointly organising this one day workshop with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in the framework of its "Road Map for promoting ITS - 20 global actions 2012 - 2020" and as the 2013 round-table after the ITS kick-off event on 28 February 2012, that many of you so greatly supported.

The forthcoming event will be focusing on ITS in emerging markets and its impact on road safety. So this event is another milestone in 2013, during the year of ICT's and the decade of action for road safety.

The programme and all Information on the workshop can be found here: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/Workshops-and-Seminars/its-em/201306/Pages/default.aspx

Registration is open now, so fill in the online form and join us!

The meeting will be conducted in English.

Should you require more information, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Robert Nowak (tel: +41 22 917 1267, e-mail: robert.nowak@unece.org).

The MOTIT web portal for electric scooter sharing goes live!

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:52:57 +0200

MOTIT is the commercial brand of the smart and innovative electric scooter sharing service that will be piloted in Barcelona as part of the smartCEM project.

One of the aspects that makes MOTIT really innovative compared to other vehicle sharing services is the fact that the users can book, pick-up and drop electric scooters anywhere on the street (users are not tied to picking up and returning vehicles at fixed charging stations). MOTIT scooters come fully equipped with helmets and a navigation feature to make the service even more flexible for users.

The electric scooter has been designed and built from zero specially for the service, it has a battery swapping system and an estimated range between 40-60 Km, very convenient for average urban usage.

smartCEM is a EU funded pilot project which aims to promote ICT services for electromobility. RACC (www.racc.es) is leading the Barcelona Pilot Site in smartCEM, with the collaboration of Creafutur (www.creafutur.com/en), Applus Idiada (www.applusidiada.com/en) and the Barcelona Municipality (www.bcn.cat/en/ihome.htm). The aim of such pilot projects is to demonstrate public acceptance and the business case for innovative mobility solutions to continue as fully functional services even after the duration of EU funding.

SEE-ITS: Intelligent Transport Systems in South East Europe

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:39:52 +0200

From 21 - 22 March, the 1st Workshop of the “SEE-ITS: Intelligent Transport Systems in South East Europe” took place in Budapest.

The project is funded by the South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme under priority Axis 3: Improvement of accessibility, Area of intervention: Develop strategies to tackle the “digital divide”.

The workshop took place in Budapest, Hungary under the title “MOVING TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED EUROPE: EU ITS DIRECTIVE FOR AVAILABILITY OF TRANSPORT DATA”. The main focus was the first priority area of the EU Directive on ITS deployment (2010/40/EU) related to the optimal use of road, traffic and travel data.

The event was co-organized by the Hungarian Transport Administration and CERTH-HIT and was held in the premises of KKK in Buda.

Further details available here (.pdf)

ITS United Kingdom makes Awards for excellence in Intelligent Transport Systems

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:29:22 +0200

ITS (UK), the Intelligent Transport Society for the United Kingdom, has made four Awards for excellence in ITS:

The Rees Hills annual award for personal contribution has been given to Dr Alan Stevens of TRL.
The Scheme of the Year award went to Transport for London’s Games Playbook. This Award was collected by Glynn Barton of TfL.
The Forward Thinking award for innovation was made to the Games’ Spectator Journey Planner. This Award was collected by Graeme Scott of IBI Group.
The Young Professional of the Year award went to Denis Naberezhnykh of TRL.

The awards are open to any organisation or individual with a UK business office.

The nominations were judged by an eminent panel of ITS professionals chaired by ITS (UK) President and former Transport Minister, Steven Norris. The Panel Members were:-

Professor John Nelson, University of Aberdeen
Elaine Rodgers, Mott MacDonald
Adrian Tatum, TEC Magazine
Steve Kearns, Transport for London
Will Tyler, Transport Scotland
Janet Cooke, London TravelWatch
Neal Skelton, ITS United Kingdom

The Awards were presented by Steven Norris at the ITS United Kingdom Traffex Dinner at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham on 17 April 2013.

UK Scheme of the Year

Winner – the Games Playbook

The Games Playbook provided TfL with one single platform for operational planning during the 2012 Games. The platform was utilised across TfL by more than 500 Surface Transport staff combining for the first ever time multiple live system links, extensive Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping and comprehensive database information into one platform, making a giant leap in utilising transport operational planning information.

Playbook was used extensively over the Games period, when the capital hosted around 17 800 athletes and officials, 22 000 members of the world media and 5 000 games family vehicles, to assist in traffic operational decision-making and ensure the effective operation of the 109 mile Olympic Route Network (ORN) and the flexible management of 30 miles of dedicated Games Lanes. The Playbook contained 135 495 separate pieces of information that otherwise would have been located in an array of individual datasets, systems and mapping so limiting their use.

This new operational planning platform allowed the development of multiple firsts, including a comprehensive traffic modelling library covering half of Central London’s road network. This allowed the referencing and storing of all modelling types spatially and temporally, and single GIS layer to display Games Time site layout information (i.e. banned turns, road closures, new facilities, barriers, staff location etc), instead of having 200+ individual site drawings.

It also gave TfL staff an ability to use live CCTV images in conjunction with other spatial information such as live roadwork’s, games routes and layout changes, also allowing for interactive contingency routing in a GIS layer to allow all TfL staff to be aware of diversion routes.

Playbook was an important contributor in achieving the target of 95.7% of Games Family journeys being completed reliably during the Olympics (against a target of 95%) and no athlete or official was late for their event because of transport issues.

The Playbook was the key tool that made the smooth operation of the Games possible, it is currently being developed into the Surface Playbook an operational planning tool taking the operational benefits of combining considerable information into one platform to inform operational as well as business planning decision making.

Forward Thinking Award

Winner – the Olympics Spectator Journey Planner

The Spectator Journey Planner was delivered by Transport Direct, ATOS Origin and IBI Group (the main parties) as part of a contract to the Olympic Delivery Authority for the London 2012 Olympics.

The Spectator Journey Planner was the official multimodal planner of the London 2012 Games and was integrated into the information architecture of the web site to allow ticket holders to plan by public transport, bike and road and included the first national accessible journey planner and was available on mobile and as part of the London 2012 App. The delivery of the Journey Planner was a huge success and contributed to the successful delivery of transport for the Games.

The Spectator Journey Planner in numbers:

• 2,659,823 unique visitors (circa 75% of all ticket holders);

• Significant numbers of journeys planned by car, by cycle and river transport; and,

• Received virtually no customer complaints during the Games.

Evidence indicated that spectators listened to TDM advice and modified their behaviour. An average of 35% of Londoners changed their travel every day during the weekdays of the Olympics.

Predicted levels of crowding were averted even though the transport system carried record numbers of passengers, with nearly 50 million people carried between 27th July and 10 August.

Numerous compliments were received in the press about the non-emergence of transport problems indicating that both the risk to journeys and the reputational risk to London were mitigated. Compliments were also received from passengers about the range and value of the travel advice they received. Nearly 75% of respondents to survey research indicated that messages delivered by the TDM programme had been relevant to them.

Young professional of the year

Winner – Denis Naberezhnykh of TRL

Since joining in 2008 Denis has become TRL’s lead in electric vehicle technology and Team Leader for the Future ITS part of the business. Three years ago, TRL had no work in the Electric Vehicle (EV) field and Denis has been instrumental in developing our expertise and business in that area.

Within Electric Vehicles, Denis specialises in adoption scenarios and charging infrastructure. He has developed project proposals for battery recycling and reuse, formed consortiums and won TSB funding. Two projects were successfully delivered in 2012 with Denis acting as project manager and lead researcher; the projects culminating in events attended by cross-industry stakeholders and being considered as a major success by the attendees. This feeling was mirrored by the TSB who gave Denis the best possible marks for performance on both of these projects.

As well as EV, Denis has delivered other ITS projects, acting as either lead researcher or project manager. Topics have included road pricing (for the DfT and EC), cooperative ITS, and technology for vehicle access to secure compounds.

Denis is keen to publicise his work and has published several papers, including contributions to three ITS (UK) publications and with recent work being presented at the European ITS Congress in Lyon.

Neville Rees & Peter Hills Award for outstanding contribution

Winner: Dr Alan Stevens of TRL

Previous winners: Prof. Eric Sampson, Dr John Miles, Richard Harris, Prof. Mike McDonald, Ian Catling, Prof. Phil Blythe.

Alan was nominated by all the previous Rees Hills Award holders.

Congress Webinar: Presentation of the congress programme & mobile app

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:20:18 +0200

You are invited to join our webinar for a walk through the 9th ITS European Congress in Dublin. Discover the ITS European Congress 2013 programme and the new App that will guide you through the programme and around the Convention Centre.

Register for the webinar

Friday 3 May 11:00 CET

In the webinar we will have two exceptional presentations:

Presentation of the Congress programme

Eric Sampson, Senior Congress Programme Adviser, will take you step by step through the exciting programme and highlight sessions and events you cannot miss. In addition to the grand Opening, Plenary sessions and Closing Ceremony, Mr Sampson will give tips of where and when you have to be to get the most of the ITS European Congress 2013.

Congress App

The Congress team will introduce you to this year's Congress App. The mobile application (available for iPhone and Android) will keep you up to date on all congress activities with a live newsfeed on events happening over the week. The app will help you find your way around the convention centre and the city of Dublin with ease by using the mobile maps and public transportation information. With the “My Congress” function you can bookmark events, speakers or sessions, exhibitors and organise your personal schedule.

This year's Congress App will also feature a networking module, including exhibitors delegates and speakers - to find existing or new contacts and schedule meetings. Download the App onto your smartphone from the Congress website; if you have agreed to feature in the delegate database, choose a person for a meeting, send an invitation and receive an answer, the other users can also learn who you are, what you offer and can invite you for an appointment. The networking module will equally be available on the Congress website.

To find out more about the programme and the app, register now and assure your place, space is limited!

For more information about the 9th ITS Congress & Exhibition, please visit www.itsineurope.com

Special rail discount for all ITS Congress delegates

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:05:16 +0200

Travelling to the ITS Congress in Dublin?

Thinking of taking an overnight break or day trip when attending the ITS Congress?

Why not book the train!

Iarnród Éireann - Irish Rail is offering all ITS congress delegates a 20% discount off on-line Intercity fares. Simply input promotional code “ITS2118” on the payments page at www.irishrail.ie.

This promotional code will be live from Monday 22 April to Sunday 28 April 2013. Purchase your on-line Intercity rail tickets between these dates and get a 20% discount.

Tickets can be purchased up to 60 days in advance of travel. Purchase tickets between Monday 20 and Sunday 28 April for rail travel before, during and after the congress up to 16 June.

Discount applies to all bookings, except special offers. Terms, conditions, credit card and transaction charges apply.

Co-Cities opens Call to become part of Co-Cities PRIME

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:32:22 +0200

Cities and regions which want to provide integrated multimodal transport information to their citizens and set up mobility services in their areas are welcome to apply for Co-Cities PRIME. This is a unique opportunity to equip your information systems with the Commonly Agreed Interface of Co-Cities supported by an experienced technology provider and to get all this with up to 50% of the implementation effort contributed by the Co-Cities project! Call is open from April 3rd to May 5th, 2013.

Multimodal traffic information services with feedback possibility

The EU-funded project Co-Cities aims at introducing and validating cooperative mobility services in cities and urban areas and provides traffic information services to the end user utilising the Co-Cities App. Additionally it allows users to give feedback on the received services via a “feedback loop”. The information provision and the feedback loop is based on the Commonly Agreed standardised Interface (CAI). It is a harmonised interface between operators, data providers and service providers (B2B interface).

Benefits of the Co-Cities PRIME Initiative

At the moment nine European Cities already use the CAI. Referring to particular interest of various stakeholders, the Co-Cities consortium started the Co-Cities PRIME Initiative: This allows other European Cities and Regions to benefit from a cost effective implementation of the CAI which is highly attractive to service providers to take up data and services due to this standard technology. Following end user services can be chosen by the city, depending on the available technical requirements:

• Multimodal Journey Planner

• Location based services about Public Transport

• Location based services about traffic information

• Location based services about Parking

• Location based services about Points of Interest

• (Co-Cities) Feedback services

Who and how to participate

In general, city administrations, urban transport authorities or city representatives as well as local technical partners or other partners of the local city administration are invited to participate. A detailed description and the application form are available at www.co-cities.eu and the call is open from April 3rd to May 5th, 2013. After the evaluation of all applicants, a minimum of three PRIME cities will be selected for the implementation process (End of May 2013).

Co-Cities PRIME Call Contact information:

co-cities-prime@austriatech.at

AustriaTech GmbH

Robert Ebner

Donau-City-Straße 1, A-1220 Wien

eCoMove – Online Acceptance Survey

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:25:04 +0200

The European research project eCoMove follows the concept of the “perfect eco-driver” travelling through the perfectly “eco-managed” road network.

Using a combination of cooperative applications for eco-driving and eco-traffic management, drivers can approach the theoretically lowest possible fuel consumption (and thus CO2 emissions) all without compromising the quality of people’s and goods mobility.

Different methods i.e Field Test, Driver Simulator Studies and Network Simulations have been used to verify the projects developments.

Validating these results we would like to ask you to do the following questionnaire which takes you about 15 minutes to provide us information regarding the user acceptance of in-vehicle information systems.

Please use the following link to take part on the Online-Questionnaire

eCoMove - Online Survey

Want to know more?

or contact us at: ecomove@mail.ertico.com

First iMobility Challenge Newsletter available

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:10:52 +0100

Editorial: Welcome to the iMobility Challenge!

It is my pleasure to introduce the iMobility Challenge: a new project which aims to promote the market take-up of clean, efficient and safe ITS solutions in Europe. iMobility Challenge is the successor to the eSafety Challenge project which focused on the promotion of eSafety systems.

We need your support to successfully bring more intelligent vehicles to market, and hope you will join the iMobility Challenge with us!

Jacob Bangsgaard, Director General, FIA Region I

Read the newsletter

TRA announce 5th conference for April 2014 and postpone abstract submission until 30/04/2013

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:27:45 +0100

Originally organized as a road sector conference, TRA® (Transport Research Arena), the European Conference on Transport Research, is undergoing great transformation. Indeed, TRA 2014 objectives are to include all surface transport modes on an equal footing while offering a content of quality at the crossroads of research and its implementation in everyday life, industry and policies.

Today, the transport sector has to meet exciting challenges: new energy sources, new technologies, urbanization, globalization, and increased expectancies from both planners and users. All of these challenges are in the scope of TRA2014, making it the arena where the future technologies, policies and know-hows will be shared!

This edition of TRA 2014 will for the first time be hosted together with other transport events, offering new views on several topics.

Thanks to its unique exhibition common to all joint conferences, TRA 2014 will also be a meeting place between researchers, practitioners, academia, industry, education and end-users, where we will exchange how best to use research results and steer future projects.

Read more about the key dates and conference programme by downloading the brochure or visiting the website

iMobility Support and FOTNET launch Call for Tender on probe data

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:09:44 +0100

The iMobility Support and FOTNET projects are launching a call for tender on the following topic:

Title: Literature study on the state of the art of probe data systems in Europe.

Objective: To determine what information and data is already available on the availability of probe data systems in Europe.

Deadline for submission of tenders: 30 April 2013

Download the guidelines for submission of the tender

For more information on the call for tender please visit the Website or send an e-mail to l.konstantinopoulou@mail.ertico.com

EU-Latin American Transport Cooperation

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:23:35 +0100

On 7 & 8 of March 2013 ERTICO organised a Latin-American regional workshop, held in São Paulo, Brazil on behalf of the EUTRAIN consortium. The objective of the event was to discover ways for Latin American and European countries to cooperate and collaborate, and to explore common themes of interest in the context of transport research.

Mrs Gloria Hutt and Mr Vincent Blervaque

Such events help the exchange of knowledge between Europe and other countries and they also help to achieve the European Commission’s decisions via their outcomes.

Mr Frank Smit, Mr Piero Venturi and Vincent Blervaque (ERTICO)

The following high-level participants took part in the meeting:

Mrs Gloria Hutt, Deputy Minister of Transport and Telecommunications in Chile

Mrs Fabiana Cereseto, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in Argentina

Mr Piero Venturi, Head of Section, Delegation of the European Union in Brazil

Mr Frank Smit, European Commission

Mrs Carmen La Gamba, ITS Argentina

Mr Chequer Jabour Chequer, ITS Brazil

Mr Gustavo Barragán, Mrs Carmen La Gamba, Mrs Fabiana Cereseto, Ms Manuela Flachi (ERTICO), Mr Vincent Blervaque (ERTICO)

The workshop also included researchers and industry stakeholders from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela who actively contributed in reporting the reality of their national transport situations and proposed recommendations for future collaborations. At the workshop, participants learned about each other’s needs and priorities, and about the instruments of international cooperation they have already put in place or envisage in the near future. They discussed current practices for research governance and management, barriers, gaps within cross-border countries as well as in comparison with Europe.

The dialogue between the European delegates and the Latin America representatives provided important outcomes that will be analyzed carefully in the European Commission working groups.

Discussion Panel

ERTICO would like to thank the IPT research institute for hosting the event.

To find out more, download the presentations here

For more information contact Manuela Flachi

ITS America announces a Request for Proposals for Module Authors for a new ITS web resource

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:00:35 +0100

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) is requesting proposals on behalf of the Joint Program Office (JPO) of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) in the U.S. Department of Transportation from individuals interested in serving as Module Authors for the development of the ITS content of the Road Network Operations (RNO) ITS Web Resource to be published on the World Road Association PIARC website. The current proposed structure includes seven themes and twenty-five Modules. Prospective authors are asked to indicate which Module(s) they are qualified for and are proposing to cover in response to this RFP. Prospective authors may apply to author one or more Modules or all Modules within a Theme. A number of Module Authors may be chosen from this RFP.

ITS America will be accepting proposals until April 5, 2013 at 2 p.m. EDST.

The primary purpose of the World Road Association (PIARC) Road Network Operations ITS Web Resource is to provide the current and future ITS workforce with a web-based reference tool for decision-making regarding investments in ITS and related services, focusing on the needs of developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The PIARC RNO ITS Web Resource is intended to be a series of up-to-date, web-based modules that provide a basic introduction to key ITS topics, with an international perspective.

For questions, contact Sarah Clements of ITS America.

Read the full RFP here

Interview: Zeljko Jeftic of IRU Projects

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:28:22 +0100

Zeljko Jeftic, IRU Projects

In January 2013, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) recently decided to establish IRU Projects. Can you explain why and what are the core activities of the new entity?

“The IRU is the global voice of bus, coach, taxi and truck operators worldwide, from large fleets to individual owner-operators. Its mission is to facilitate and ensure the sustainable development of the road transport industry in order to drive economic growth and prosperity via the sustainable mobility of people and goods by road worldwide. The IRU was established in 1948 and is a global industry federation of national Member Associations and Associate Members in 74 countries on the 5 continents.”

“IRU Projects is a Belgian entity, established to support the IRU and its members in participating in European Commission co-financed activities. Many of IRU members have been hesitant in participating in EC co-financed activities due to the amount and complexity of administration as well as lack of knowledge about opportunities for cooperation. IRU Projects is a service to all these members in making the administrative burden lighter so that the IRU and its members can focus on the strategically important work.”

Can you tell us more about the European projects you are currently focusing on?

“We are involved in a number of important activities. ECOeffect is a project developing eco-driving courses for professional drivers as well as a training module for eco-driving trainers themselves. In this sense the project is directly supporting the IRU policy on professional training as provided by the IRU Academy, as well as on Greening Road Transport and IRU’s 30-by-30 resolution - a voluntary IRU-led commitment of the road transport industry to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to 2007 levels. By providing train-the-trainer modules, the project ensures that the best eco-driving training practices are implemented in a harmonised way across Europe. The IRU and its IRU Academy Accredited Training Institutes (in this case UNTRR, CESMAD and HSF) are implementing this training initiative in Czech Republic, Romania and Poland. The long term target is to offer this training even after the end of the project lifetime.”

“Another important project is MOBINET, aimed at developing a Europe wide service platform. Through this project, we try to demonstrate the benefits of enabling numerous service providers to connect with each other. However we do not want to see this as yet another R&D activity but, rather, as a business driven platform which will continue even after the end of the project’s duration. For that, we need to go beyond research thinking by involving tens or hundreds of “trial users” and integrate real added-value services into the platform, which will be operating with tens of thousands of users or more. Overall we can see that far too many technologies have been developed in EC projects with far too little involvement from fleet operators and their customers.”

“The third project to highlight also has a clear target of continuing with service operation after the project end-date. Compass4D, sees seven European cities implementing cooperative services for increased energy efficiency and road safety. As in MOBINET, our goal in this project is to evaluate the real life benefits of the services with a large number of fleet operators. At the same time we will investigate all wide-scale deployment opportunities, barriers and solutions and establish robust business models which will enable all stakeholders to commit to running the piloted services even in the future, as an integral part of their traffic management operations.”

What do you think the main benefits of cooperating with other European stakeholders through European projects are?

"The main benefit for us is to be able to work together on the development of technologies and policies. By influencing both of these at an early stage, it is easier to ensure that they are aligned with the real-life, end-user needs. As the latest example on how an EC supported project has contributed to policy development, we should mention the TRACE (Transport Regulators Align Control Enforcement) project, to which the IRU contributed. The project description is available in all EU languages on the EUROPA website, and presents the TRACE project team's views on the application and implementation of a number of provisions of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 establishing rules on driving times, breaks and rest periods of professional drivers."

"Another positive example is the FREILOT project piloting energy efficiency services for heavy goods vehicles. One of the piloted services was implemented to provide a certain level of priority for approaching trucks at signalised intersections. The outcomes of the project were very positive. The key technology supplier, PEEK, proved the benefits to stakeholders (city authorities and fleet operators) and commercialised their new intersections equipment for communication with trucks. This is the first commercial product on the market in this ground-breaking field, aimed at real customers (road operators in this case). At the same time, Helmond is the first city in Europe which has adopted these new technologies and services to be an integral part of their traffic management solution. Even after the end of the project, fleet operators continue to benefit from the ongoing operation of this new technology, saving them 14% on fuel consumption along the equipped route."

What are you hoping to achieve in the next coming 3 to 5 years?

"We aim to make the voice of commercial fleet operators more prominent in European Commission co-financed projects and to continue providing solutions to the real-life problems bus, coach, taxi and truck fleet operators are facing every day."

9th ITS European Congress & Exhibition: Registration Open

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 09:20:59 +0100

Registration & Accommodation Booking Now Open
Interactive online timetable available

We are delighted to announce that registration for the 9th ITS European Congress & Exhibition to be held in Dublin, Ireland 4–7 June 2013 is now open and the interactive online timetable is available!

‘Real Solutions for Real Needs’ will emphasise the latest developments and solutions in Intelligent Transport Systems and Services. Through our innovative Congress Programme we will bring you internationally recognised keynote speakers, cutting-edge plenary and executive sessions as well as special/technical/scientific sessions, interactive sessions, technical tours, demos and much more.

To register for the 9th ITS European Congress & Exhibition and benefit from the early-bird discounted rates, saving an average of 20% on the standard registration price, please click here.

The Early Bird Registration Rate ends Monday, 29 April 2013

Register here and Save 220 EUR with the Early Bird rate!

eCall developing in Europe and going International

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:36:50 +0100

Designed to reduce emergency response times, the “112” eCall service is a pan-European service that allows vehicles to automatically call for help in the case of a road incident. The HeERO project, which aims to deploy eCall in Europe, has been developing and spreading significantly recently with the launch of HeERO 2 in Madrid on 14 January 2013. Six new countries have joined the project (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Luxemburg, Spain and Turkey), bringing the HeERO consortium to up to 83 partners and 15 pilot sites, coupled with 6 associate pilot sites (Israel, Cyprus, Slovenia, Hungary and Iceland, joined at their own expense as well as Russia for the ERA-GLONASS service) and 16 associated commercial partners.

The past year was also busy for HeERO, with an important highlight in November in Zagreb, Croatia, where the first HeERO International Conference was held. Almost 200 participants from Europe and around the world gathered to hear firsthand testing results from the pilot sites and witness live demonstrations of several eCall units making successful calls to the Zagreb 112 PSAP. Earlier that year, attendees at the ITS Wold Congress in Vienna were also able to discover exciting live demonstrations of cross-border inter-operability from HeERO on the exhibition floor with a German test vehicle sending an eCall to the Romanian PSAP in Bucharest. Further inter-operability tests are scheduled during the upcoming ERTICO “TestFest” and the second test phase of the HeERO project is starting in April 2013. Also coming up this year, in late November, is the next HeERO International Conference and HeERO Final Event which will take place in Bucharest, Romania.

While spreading in Europe, eCall also went international with the opening of a new test site in Japan. Launched in the city of Yokosuka in December 2012, this test site is the very first test facility opened outside of Europe. The Yokosuka Telecom Research Park (YTRP) also hosted an “eCall Day in Yokosuka” that same month, in association with ERTICO, Cinterion (a Gemalto Company) and Fujitsu Ten Limited for the Japanese automobile manufacturers and key players of the automotive electronics sector to keep up to date on the latest eCall developments. The technical and financial challenges at stake are indeed of main importance for the sector’s manufacturers and as Marcel Visser, Vice president of Automotive at Cinterion said: “By enabling local testing of eCall technology, Cinterion and its partners are streamlining manufacturing and helping global automakers achieve significant time and cost efficiency “. In March 2013, YTRP is participating in “The 4th Automotive Telecommunication Technology Tokyo” Expo and aims to be instrumental in helping Japan’s automobile exports by offering its services as a test facility in order to foresee the European legislation trends.

The implementation agenda for eCall confirms the high priority of the deployment projects since all new European vehicles will have to be equipped with the emergency call service starting as early as 2015. 22 of the 27 EU Member States have signed the eCall Memorandum Of Understanding (2 Member States also signed letters of support), and work is ongoing to ensure the support of the remaining Member States, but necessary PSAP upgrades to support the system are in some cases being delayed by decisions at national level. On a technical level, experts remain confident in resolving the remaining technical issues and proceeding with standardisation in time for the 112 services’ launch. The EU’s ambition to save several hundred lives yearly thanks to eCall services should thus be fulfilled in a near future.

Last but not least in terms of developments, eCall and ERA-GLONASS, its Russian equivalent, are progressing in their collaboration and a Memorandum of Understanding is about to be signed as we speak! The GLONASS satellite system, developed in the 1970s by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces, offers full global coverage and is also compatible with the GPS signal. Millions of euros have been allocated by President Vladimir Putin since 2000 to restore the global satellite navigation system and the ERA-GLONASS emergency call system launch is scheduled for 2014. In this perspective, the HeERO project and ERA-GLONASS are planning a joint workshop focused on standards during the third quarter of 2013. The Russian standards have indeed not been translated yet and this joint initiative will most certainly be of high relevance to the vehicle manufacturers and advanced electronics suppliers. Andy Rooke, HeERO Project Coordinator and Senior Project Manager at ERTICO points out: “I cannot stress too highly the importance of ensuring that there is compatibility between the various eCall systems which are designed to operate on single emergency numbers and are for mass-market deployment as opposed to a paid for service. This makes strong commercial sense for all parties involved.”

These international developments also have consequences for the wider public. Thanks to the eCall teams active collaboration with Russia and Japan, the eCall service could not only be a lifesaver within the EU but will also allow, for example, a European citizen driving a Japanese car on a rural Russian road to benefit from the harmonised emergency call systems and be rescued in optimal time in case of a serious accident.

By Anouk Van den Bussche

My Testfest Quest

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:28:31 +0100

14 years ago, when I was a young, bright-eyed Software Engineering student, I remember sitting through endless classes in which wise professors would repeatedly warn us of two fundamental Engineering rules:

Never start building anything before you have designed it, and, Never release anything until it has been thoroughly tested.

Of course, thanks to our youthful ignorance and passion for coding, my fellow classmates and I regularly ignored these wise words and as a result we delivered many failed projects and fancy-looking systems which were either unusable, irrelevant or complete failures when tested. We chose to learn the hard way.

Thankfully, today’s ITS Engineers know better.

In fact, these days they don’t just test products, they hold week-long testing festivals, known as ‘Testfests’. These extraordinary events bring commercial engineers, designers and testers together to assess the functionality of products in an almost real-world situation before the products are released. This is clearly good news for an industry built around technologies that need to communicate reliably.

So, this month, in an effort to understand these curious events and uncover their high-tech secrets, I have been on a mini Testfest quest (perhaps called a Testquest?).

Here is what I discovered:

They really are festivals

Like other festivals, Testfests are community events which are held around a specific topic, usually an ITS standard, and they occur during a large meeting in a single location. However, unlike other festivals, ITS Testfests are practical events. Generally speaking they do not involve dancing and eating (although both are allowed) and they focus almost exclusively on testing and validation. They are sensible gatherings, motivated by solid engineering principles such as reliability, standardisation and interoperability.

They are organised by engineers for engineers

Testfests are, at their core, engineering events. They are organised and designed by leading industry experts, often those who are involved in defining industry standards. In fact, the events are often organised in collaboration with standardisation organisations such as TISA and ETSI.

They are not certification sessions

Testfests validate products to ensure that they work when connected to and communicating with products made by other manufacturers. By connecting systems together in the same room, engineers can see if the technology works as they had expected. If they do not work, the test data should help them understand why not and what to do.

Usually, this involves testing a specific implementation of a technological standard, but as mentioned before - the focus is on interoperability. Does product X work with product Y?

ITS standards, like other standards, may have inconsistencies or ambiguities which manifest themselves in ever-so-slightly different implementations. If this happens, then ‘testfesting’ is a great way to uncover potential conflicts arising from these inconsistencies; however this is not the same as testing your product against the standard.

Confidentiality and cordiality rule

When I interviewed Sébastien Mure, Project Manager at ERTICO, about Testfests he was not just happy, but genuinely enthusiastic about the atmosphere of openness and cooperation he has witnessed at previous Testfests. Understanding that many of attendees are commercial rivals, Sébastien stressed the importance of strict adherence to non-disclosure agreements and the climate of trust that this builds. Testfests are, after all, about improving the interoperability and quality of systems, not beating your competitors. He believes that the energy and excitement on display during these events comes from the desire to make things work, and to make things work well.

I have to admit, his enthusiasm was infectious, and while I was smart enough to quit Software Engineering before I did any serious damage to the reputation of the industry – I am very much looking forward to the upcoming ‘fests’ which are being planned for later this year. The first, a TPEG Testfest, will take place in May (see www.tisa.org for further information) and the second, an eCall Testfest will take place during the summer. See www.heero-pilot.eu.

Both events look set to be a huge success and if they are, I think we will see many more Testfest events in the coming years.

By Ian Bearder

Communications Officer

ERTICO – ITS Europe.

i.bearder@mail.ertico.com

How a Testfest works

1. The event is organised, advertised and booked for specific dates. Attendees sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

2. Industry experts define the test scenarios and specifications which will be used

3. Attendees arrive on day one and setup/calibrate their equipment

4. Testing begins. Tests are carried out using a ‘Championship’ formula which means each company or group will test their product against all others.

5. Each test is carried out in accordance to specific rules and each is marked as OK, Not OK, Not done or Not applicable.

6. Depending on the number of tests and the number of participants, each day allows for about 3-4 testing sessions.

7. The day ends with a debriefing and discussion in which common problems can be discussed together with industry and standard experts.

8. If they wish, participants attend evening social events. Others retire to their hotels to continue work on their products and services.

9. At the end of the festival, attendees receive the results of their own tests and may participate in a final discussion session and debriefing.

10. Attendees leave and return to their work and hopefully use their experiences to enhance their products for the benefit of the industry and their end users.

Towards Futurama – Developments in Road Transport Automation

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:03:27 +0100

On the 7 May, the iMobility Forum Working Group on Automation for Road Transport held a workshop dedicated to the subject, with speakers from across the globe presenting the progress made and challenges still to overcome. Laura Johnstone reports.

Automation and automated vehicles have long been a source of fascination since as far back at the 1930s, when American industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes first showcased the General Motors-sponsored Futurama at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Revellers marvelled at his vision of the year 1960, the most futuristic aspect of which was an automated highway system. Bel Geddes imagined a future where humans, and thus human error, would be eliminated from the driving process, where bottlenecks would be a thing of the past, and where city traffic would be greatly accelerated. Of course, Bel Geddes’ predictions did not come true (although by 1960 General Motors had developed an automated highway prototype), and even today, 70 years on, we are some way from reaching his safe, efficient, fast and comfortable automated utopia.

But the buzz surrounding automation has continued to amplify, thanks to technological developments rendering automated vehicles entirely feasible, as well as the publicity surrounding initiatives such as the DARPA Grand Challenge, the Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak and, most notably, the Google Car. Many vehicle manufacturers and suppliers are known to be investing in applications which are set to steadily increase the level of automation available to the driver in the coming years.

Automation will help to solve several societal challenges - first and foremost in reducing the number of road accidents but also in increasing the efficiency of road networks and reducing fuel consumption – and research into the topic is currently being funded by national and supranational authorities.

In Europe, the European Commission has funded a number of projects over the last 20 years, from Chauffeur to Cybermove and Cybercars. More recently, there have been three projects in particular working on different aspects of automation: Citymobil, which focused on achieving more effective urban transport through testing and evaluating new solutions based on advanced city vehicles, HAVEit, which aimed to improve traffic safety and efficiency through the development and validation of next generation ADAS as well as defining different degrees of automation and developing an appropriate vehicle architecture suited to highly automated driving, and SARTRE, which developed vehicle platoons for public highways.

The follow up to CityMobil launched last September, with some of its aims including the definition of common technical specifications for cybercar manufacturers, the undertaking of detailed studies on implementing cybercar systems in 12 cities and the definition of a European legal framework for certification of automated transport systems. The project includes 45 partners and will run for just over three years. In addition, supervised automated driving also featured as one topic in the last call for proposals of FP7 under DG CONNECT, cementing the commitment of the European Commission to investing in and developing automation for road transport.

Japan, meanwhile, is using cooperative systems to overcome the unique challenges stemming from its densely populated, immense urban areas with the ITS Spot Service, the world’s first infrastructure for vehicle cooperative systems, which offers drivers dynamic route guidance, driving safety support and supports electronic toll collection. Furthermore, cooperative vehicle longitudinal control is being used in conjunction with the ITS Spots to reduce traffic congestion in uphill highway areas (the so-called “sag effect”).

The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism has also established its ‘Autopilot System Council’ which is working towards the deployment of automated driving on highways, from cooperative vehicle control and adaptive cruise control towards steering assistance. The systems envisaged will utilise and further develop existing technologies, with the autopilot system estimated to be put into place in the early 2020s.

In the US, the Department of Transportation (DoT) is currently drafting its vehicle automation programme plan, which aims to develop a multi-modal research plan to focus on accelerating public benefits whilst diminishing public risk. The draft schedule for this plan is due to be released in summer of this year, following collaboration with a range of external stakeholders.

An important part of this plan is the identification and categorisation of the issues and challenges inherent to automation. Here, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) ITS Committee will play an important role. TRB Committees are made up of volunteers from government, industry and academia, who come together to address shared interests in transport. Last summer the TRB held a workshop on automation which brought together experts from around the world, where the state of the art of many aspects of automation were presented and specially designed breakout sessions were held to facilitate debate and discussion. This year’s TRB workshop will take place in July in California, and the discussion at this event will be considered in the final DoT vehicle automation programme plan, which is set to be released in September.

It is clear that all three regions envisage automation as part of the future of road transport, and whilst there has been great advancement in the research and development of automation applications and services over the last few decades – so much so that we can confidently say that automation technology in itself is almost ready to be deployed – there remain several stumbling blocks before anything resembling Bel Geddes’ Futurama comes to pass.

So if automation, in its varying degrees, is technically feasible, why aren’t we all spending our daily commute reading, checking emails or watching films behind the wheel?

At the iMobility Forum Automation workshop, two issues were raised repeatedly – human factors/ user acceptance and legal issues.

Regarding human factors and user acceptance, there are currently many unanswered questions that remain, particularly regarding whether the driver will understand the new system and be able to work with it, whether he trusts the new system, believes in its reliability and is able to accept handing over control to the vehicle.

Furthermore, as we rise through higher degrees of automation, how can we be sure that the driver understands how much attention he has to pay to his surroundings? And can the driver handle potential changes in workloads, for example switching from underload to excessive overload in a critical situation?

The CityMobil project included small-scale studies which examined situational awareness and driver reaction to unexpected traffic situations whilst driving in “normal”, semi-autonomous and fully autonomous vehicle simulators, both in urban environment and in dedicated eLanes. Vehicle manufacturers are also working on their own human-machine interface (HMI) solutions. However, not enough work has been carried out at this point to give a sufficient answer to these questions, and it is clear that there needs to be a coordinated, concerted effort to ensure that the driver’s needs in terms of safety, efficiency and comfort are met.

Developing a HMI which takes into account human factors and meets driver’s needs, although it requires some work, is perfectly doable. The second big issue in road transport automation, however, is not so easy to solve. It is an issue which is raised time and time again, and yet no one so far has come up with a definitive answer on how to get round this obstacle – the legality of automation.

The common starting point for this discussion is generally the 1968 United Nations Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, specifically articles 8.1 “every moving vehicle or combination of vehicles shall have a driver”, 8.5 “every driver shall at all times be able to control his vehicle or to guide his animals” and 13.1 ‘every driver of a vehicle shall in all circumstances have his vehicle under control so as to be able to exercise due and proper care and to be at all times in a position to perform all manoeuvres required of him”.

The Vienna Convention has been ratified by 70 countries, including most of Europe but not the US or Japan. The US is, however, a signatory of the predecessor to the Vienna Convention – the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, which also contains some of the above articles. The terms of these conventions therefore render automated driving, at a certain point where the vehicle has more control than the driver, not legal.

The Vienna Convention has been amended on several occasions over the decades (most recently in 2006) so in theory it is possible to change it again to allow highly to fully automated driving. However, it is often argued that amending the Vienna Convention to allow automation in road transport would be a long process; far longer than it will take for vehicle automation technologies to be ready for launch on the market. Therefore, alternative solutions should be sought.

You may have noticed above the rather clunky use of “not legal” as opposed to “illegal”. This is a subtle yet important nuance, as there are some who believe that the Vienna convention can be interpreted in a way that allows for automated driving.

Firstly, what constitutes “control”? Does this mean that the driver must be in control in the sense of physically driving and controlling the vehicles’ functions, or could we interpret that to mean the driver must monitor the automated functions and be ready to take control when something goes wrong?

Secondly, “the driver must be in control of the vehicle”, but does that mean he must be inside the vehicle? Could the driver in fact be outside, keeping control remotely or from a control centre?

Such are the grey areas put forward during the Automation Workshop, summed up with the rather nice phrase: “it’s not allowed... but it’s not forbidden!”

In 2011, Nevada famously made automated driving legal within the state. The legislation enacted by the State is a good example of how this grey area can be exploited; Nevada’s regulations state that vehicles may only operate in autonomous mode if they have a compliance certificate, which leads to the important phrase “the autonomous vehicle may be operated in autonomous mode without the physical presence of the operator only if the certificate of compliance certifies that the autonomous vehicle is capable of being operated in that manner”. So, with some cautionary previsions, driverless vehicles are legal in Nevada.

For the moment the State’s Department of Motor Vehicles will only accept licence applications for testing purposes and state on their website that autonomous driving is not available to the general public, but this is nonetheless a big step forward for the deployment of autonomous vehicles, as not only does the example of Nevada (and Florida and California, with more States to follow) show how automated and driverless vehicles can be deployed within the existing legal framework, but these states also provide a huge testing ground for measuring and evaluating open issues such as user acceptance.

In Europe there are also some provisions being put into place which rely on creative interpretations of the Vienna convention; for example the idea that automated vehicles could be classified as trains, where the vehicle’s trajectory can be considered as a virtual (rail)track. Specific tests have also been permitted on public roads; for example, last year the SARTRE project successfully drove a platoon of vehicles down a motorway just outside Barcelona, in the midst of normal traffic. The CityMobil project also demonstrated small, fully automated vehicles inside the pedestrianised city centre of La Rochelle in France. Although such initiatives are very positive, no European region or country has yet provided carte blanche for the testing of automated vehicles as we see in the US.

Almost 60 years after Bel Geddes’ predicted we would be zipping along automated highways, his vision is edging towards realisation. The technical barriers preventing us from driving more safely, cleanly and efficiently with the aid of automation applications and technologies have either been overcome or are very close to being overcome. However, it is clear that non-technical barriers, particularly those outlined above, will continue to slow down the implementation of automation until a concerted, common effort is made to resolve them.

1960 has long been and gone; let’s hope that by 2060 society as a whole can look back at many happy years of automated driving.

By Laura Johnstone

Useful Links

iMobilty Forum Automation for Road Transport WG: http://www.icarsupport.eu/esafety-forum/esafety-working-groups/automation/

iMobility Forum Automation for Road Transport Workshop: http://www.icarsupport.eu/events/workshop-automation-in-road-transport/

CityMobil project http://www.citymobil-project.eu/

HAVEit project http://www.haveit-eu.org/

SARTRE project http://www.sartre-project.org/en/

ITS Spot Services http://www.mlit.go.jp/kokusai/itf/kokusai_itf_000006.html

TRB ITS Committee https://sites.google.com/site/trbitscommittee/

UN Vienna Convention on road traffic http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/conventn/crt1968e.pdf

Nevada Legislature http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/76th2011/Reports/history.cfm?ID=1011

State of Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles http://www.dmvnv.com/autonomous.htm

Open session on TMC and TPEG technology in Seattle

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:52:12 +0100

On the occasion of the TISA Committees meetings in Seattle on the 19 and 20 March, TISA member INRIX will host a half-day open information session on TMC and TPEG technology.

TMC (Traffic Message Channel) is a specific application of FM RDS used for broadcasting real-time traffic information, whilst Transport Protocol Experts Group (TPEG) specifications offer a method for transmitting multimodal traffic and travel information, regardless of client type, location or required delivery channel (e.g. DAB, HD radio, Internet, DVB-x, DMB, GPRS, Wi-Fi).

During the session, TISA - the Traveller Information Services Association - will introduce these two technologies and the progresses achieved so far. The session will be followed by presentations on US service providers and what they currently offer to the market. Speakers include Robert Cahn (Group Manager Platform Development) and Dave Francis (Technical Director) from INRIX; Mark Saunders, Senior Systems Specialist Engineer from NOKIA; Len Konecny, Vice President of ClearChannel; and Girish Warrier, Director, Advanced Services for iBiquity.

This afternoon session is open to the public, to register please click here. The Agenda is available here.

U.S. DOT publishes Request for Information on multimodal transportation automation

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:38:36 +0100

The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) is seeking informed views of the opportunities and challenges to the development, deployment, operation and use of increased automation of the surface transportation system, including vehicles, drivers, users, road-based infrastructure, information systems and applications for the purpose of developing a U.S. DOT multimodal research plan for automation.

This is an area of great interest to the public, which may have significant impacts on many societal issues such as driving safety, personal mobility, energy consumption, operating efficiency, environmental impact, and land use. The focus for this RFI is to learn the views of government, industry, academia, and the American public with regard to:

• Roles of local, state, and federal governments in policy formation

• Technical challenges

• Human factors issues

• Institutional issues

• Legal issues associated with increased automation

Input to this RFI will assist the U.S. DOT to:

• Identify, categorize, and prioritize key research challenges

• Identify and begin quantifying anticipated societal costs and benefits

• Learn about current and planned research activities among private and public research groups

• Gain insight into commercial trends and market developments

• Understand opportunities that may be created for public-private partnerships and financing

• Organize the U.S. DOT research plan temporally, according to near-, mid-, and long-term priorities that reflect the me-sensitive aspects of evolving automation capabilities and market demands

• Identify appropriate areas for policy formation that can help to accelerate beneficial developments, reduce or eliminate public exposure to risk, and reduce the development and operation costs associated with automation

The RFI can be found on FedBizOps and here

Responses are due by 12:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, Tuesday 2 April 2013, and shall be sent electronically to the Contracting Specialist, Michael Rigby

Transport for London launches competition to create ‘Accessibility Apps’

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:18:59 +0100

Transport for London (TfL) is launching a competition to create new ‘Accessibility Apps’. This marks the first of a series of initiatives to improve the variety of accessibility apps on offer. As part of the competition developers are being invited to apply with ideas for a new travel app which will make TfL realtime data more accessible to a far wider audience than mainstream Apple/Android apps. The winning entries will receive development support from TfL.

Making the transport network accessible to all is a key focus for both the Mayor and TfL and lots of work has taken place over recent years to deliver a range of accessibility improvements. Passengers have benefited from recent technological innovations including on-bus audio/visual announcements, Countdown bus arrival information, Wi-Fi in many Tube and Overground stations and an online resource showing stations with step free access and giving advice on avoiding stairs and the best ways to navigate the transport network. New lifts have been installed on the Tube, many more bus stops have been made accessible and wide aisle gates, raised platform sections and manual boarding ramps have been introduced to make getting around easier. Many people used these to successfully plan and undertake their journeys during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Increasing public access to information is another priority area, with TfL’s open data policy allowing developers to use its published dynamic data (known as ‘APIs’) free of charge. Most recently TfL launched its latest API with supported access to London’s live bus arrival information.

TfL is looking for applications from developers which will make it easier for disabled and older people to travel around the transport network. The proposed apps should look at:

> Physical ease of use (including making it easy to use the touchscreen and ‘dynamic’ elements)

> Clarity of information (to help people who are unfamiliar with technology, or have difficulty understanding apps or travel information)

> Integration with other assistive technology features (for example using text to speech, zoom facilities, voice control)

> Compatibility with a wide range of devices

The judging panel will choose three applications that are considered to be innovative and offer value of use in one or more areas of accessibility to receive support to turn them into a live product. Winners will be announced in Autumn 2013 and the new accessibility apps will be released into the market at this time.

This competition is the first stage of an engagement plan with developers to produce new accessible journey planning tools. The next stage will see the Step Free Tube Guide data made available digitally for the first time in Summer 2013. TfL is aware that planning a step-free journey on the Tube can sometimes be confusing and this initiative will enable developers to produce more user-friendly versions of this information in order to make step-free journeys simpler for disabled and older people.

The OneVoice ICT Coalition ‘the voice for ICT accessibility and usability’ is promoting the competition with TfL. OneVoice has developed guidelines for accessibly applications and will specify the principles and governance behind this project. Support and advice has also been given by a number of organisations, including the RNIB, Guide Dogs and Transport for All.

Leon Daniels, Managing Director of Surface Transport at TfL, said:

“TfL has a great track record of helping passengers with different needs get the right information. We have audio and visual announcements on all Tubes, trains and buses. Now we want to go even further - using the most imaginative solutions and the latest technology to take the accessibility of London’s transport network to the next level. This new initiative should enable real time service arrivals and disruption information to reach a much wider group of people in a shorter time with partners tuned to passengers’ individual needs.”

Peter Abrahams, OneVoice ICT said:

“This is a great challenge for app developers to show how existing data can be provided to disabled people so that it is easy to request and provide the most relevant information. The developers may wish to consider what other data feeds, or particular functions of the mobile device may enhance the user experience for people with specific disabilities. OneVoice look forward to seeing some innovative users of the technology.”

For more information about the competition, details of how to enter and a full list of Terms and Conditions, please see the Developer’s Area of the TfL website. www.tfl.gov.uk/appcomp

Entrants will have the opportunity to submit designs until 30 August 2013 and the winners will be announced at the end of September.

European Space Expo coming to Dublin

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:37:31 +0100

The European Commission has launched the European Space Expo to show how space and its applications provide benefits to Europe's citizens. The Expo will highlight the critical role of the European Union in space and space-based technologies.

Through the investment in the flagship programmes of Galileo, EGNOS and GMES, the citizens of Europe will benefit from the many services and applications, which are expected to create global market opportunities and help to support job creation and economic growth.

Presented for the nineth time soon in Budapest, visitors to the Expo can see, touch and experience the wide range of innovative technologies and services that space offers them.

Discover what space brings to your life!

Next venues

Across Europe these are the places where you will be able to visit the European Space Expo:

Budapest - 20 / 25 March 2013

Hannover - 8 / 12 April 2013

Warsaw - 4 / 9 May 2013

Bratislava - 18 / 23 May 2013

Dublin - 4 / 9 June 2013

Cork - 18 / 23 June 2013

Rimini - 18 - 24 August 2013

More information on the website

ITS America appoints John Miles as Technical Editor

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:15:25 +0100

February 25, 2013 -The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) has recently selected John Miles, PhD, as Technical Editor for a new Web-based Resource on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).

Dr. Miles is a transportation policy analyst with more than 40 years of experience in transportation planning, research and policy development.

ITS America, on behalf of the ITS Joint Program Office (JPO) of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), is overseeing the development of the ITS content of the Road Network Operations (RNO) ITS Web Resource to be published in partnership with the World Road Association (PIARC) on the PIARC website.

The purpose of this ITS Web Resource is to provide the current and future international ITS workforce with a web-based teaching and reference tool to assist in decision-making about investments in ITS and related services, with attention to the needs of developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The PIARC RNO ITS Web Resource is intended to be a series of up-to-date, web-based modules that provide a basic introduction to key ITS topics, with an international perspective.

As Technical Editor, Dr. Miles will oversee the efforts of approximately the web module authors who will write the content for each chapter or component of the Web Resource. Dr. Miles has a wealth of experience with PIARC, having first joined the PIARC Technical Committee on Intelligent Transport in 1996, and having served as associate editor of the first edition of the PIARC handbook on ITS, published in 1990 and as lead editor for the second 2004 edition. The 2014 edition seeks to build on past efforts and draw on contemporary technology innovations to make the resource accessible and relevant.

The U.S. DOT is funding the development of the ITS Web Resource, which is expected to be completed in mid-2014.

For more information about the RNO ITS Web Resource, contact Tom Kern (tkern@itsa.org), Executive Vice President, ITS America at 202-721-4211.

Siemens begins production of On-Board-Units for new satellite-based toll system

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:03:48 +0100

As part of the "Ecotaxe" toll project, Siemens is supplying service operators Eurotoll and Total with On-Board-Units worth 50 million euros.The project involves introducing a toll based on road performance for HGVs above 3.5 tonnes on France's national highways. Production of the On-Board-Units began in Orleans in February 2013.

Read on here

DRIVE C2X announce test site event in Götenborg

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:41:11 +0100

DRIVE C2X @ TSS

June 13-14, 2013 in Gothenburg

DRIVE C2X is pleased to announce the last major demo event of DRIVE C2X’s test site campaign "Making cooperative systems cooperate". Visitors will have the unique opportunity to drive themselves and gain hands-on experience of the DRIVE C2X functions in a running FOT. The event will take place on June 13-14, 2013 at the Test Site Sweden (TSS), in Gothenburg.

The project invites expert community (June 13 - Expert day) and general public (June 14 - Public day) to experience the DRIVE C2X system and its implementation on its six European test sites. During the expert day, the community will have the opportunity to discuss test design and methodology of running FOTs in a series of workshops, presentations and exhibitions. On the public day, the visitors will have a chance to experience and discuss the benefits of cooperative driving with the project team. A real-time video transmission to the running FOTs across Europe provides insight in the various functions tested in DRIVE C2X and the traffic management approaches.

To find out more and register, visit the DRIVE C2X website here.

Lisbon Smart City Program

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:11:48 +0100

Lisbon, 27th February 2013

The Portuguese Government, through the Ministry of Economy and Employment, and the Japanese Organization NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) established a partnership covering a wide range of initiatives in the field of sustainable technology and innovation.

In addition, the city of Lisbon was selected as the target city to implement a smart community program.

The first developments identified areas of interest and potential projects that contribute for the high level objective of generating new technologies and innovations. At present, the focus of this program is based on two main key areas as pillars for this smart community: mobility/ smart transportation and energy management systems/ energy saving technologies.

Regarding “smart mobility”, the aim of Lisbon Municipality is to generate inclusive and integrated systems for mobility management, building on existing technologies and systems through the technology driven partnerships provided by Portuguese and Japanese stakeholders, that might address an integrated mobility data platform including: real time integrated traffic and parking systems, fully-integrated route guidance information systems, air quality driven traffic management system and integrated mobility services payment.

At the moment, the fundamental research projects are being identified. A feasibility studies will follow and it’s expected that by the middle of 2014 the technology dissemination and field projects will be in application.

Mobile opportunities, an Internet of Things - IBM

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:56:40 +0100

Mobile has reached a turning point. As devices proliferate and become more feature-rich, embracing mobile potential means more than technological updates. Now, the most cutting-edge advances in mobile will not be in the device itself, but instead what is done with it.

The second wave of the mobile revolution will be defined by powerful interactions that drive the business of mobile. IBM offers a comprehensive mobile platform to turn each of these interactions into an opportunity.

IBM explores how an Internet of Things could transform the cities we live in here

The life of the connected commuter - IBM

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:41:59 +0100

Social’s on the move – welcome to the city that never sleeps. Where people are more likely to tweet about a pothole or support bike lanes on Facebook than go to a city council meeting. City governments that want to keep a finger on the pulse of their transit arteries don’t need an invitation. They just need to know how to listen.

See IBM's illustration on how social media can be used to asses commuter satisfaction here

Mobility apps at a glance - Mobilotse.at

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:57:38 +0100

Sometimes the shortest route between two places is not the fastest. And the fastest route may not always be the most comfortable or sustainable. In order to find the best route for each individual, the Austrian online platform mobilotse.at now provides easy access to the best apps and web applications for mobility services. In addition, the mobilotse.at platform invites users to test new applications which are still in development in order to give useful feedback and suggest improvements. These genuine feed-backs help developers and enable test-users to directly influence the user-friendliness of applications.

As mobility is no longer limited to only one means of transport, the future depends on intelligent connections between them. The mobilotse.at platform was initiated in this perspective by Doris Bures, the Austrian minister of transport in order to promote different means of transport and make their use more attractive and comfortable. AustriaTech was designated to develop and operate mobilotse.at on behalf of the Austrian ministry of transport, innovation and technology.

Innovative mobility services, like those on mobilotse.at, are gaining in importance. Citizen’s needs regarding mobility, especially in urban areas, tend to require more flexibility and tailor made services. Meanwhile, the current smartphone-boom – around 55% of European cell phone users have a smart phone (source: MobiLens-research, comScore) – contributes to having users carry their personal guide or navigation system in their pocket.

One of the most established Apps in Austria is ÖBB SCOTTY, which provides detailed information about all timetables of public transport in Austria and integrates train, metro, bus, tram etc. in route planning. Although the focus of this app is on public transport in Austria, international train connections can also be displayed. The “Unterwegs”-App of ASFINAG provides e.g. information about the weather situation on highways and has access to 450 webcams on Austrian highways.

On mobilotse.at, one can also find apps with international focus. The e-miXer Co-Cities is a good example of international ITS apps. This EU-co-financed project for multimodal traffic and travel information for Vienna (AT), Prague (CZ), Munich (DE), Bilbao (ES), Reading (UK) and the Tuscan region (IT) enables users to send information on the quality of traffic services, submit data and any relevant information about mobility (e.g. report congestions). The collected information is then forwarded to the cities and/or their traffic headquarters.

Another example of international ITS is the mitfahrgelegenheit.at platform which connects drivers with empty seats in their cars with people looking for an affordable ride or different maps and navigation services.

Collective transport recommendations

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:07:24 +0100

Smart Move have published new policy recommendations which suggest ways in which we could double the use of collective passenger transport within the next 10 years.

The set of 15 proposals made range from enabling efficient, transparent EU cooperation and guidelines for city access restrictions and Low Emission Zones, to the establishment of ‘zero rate’ VAT tarrifs for collective passenger land transport, and the creation of a permanent EU platform to promote the use of collective passenger transport.

View the full text here.

Call for External Demonstrations – European ITS Congress 2013 Deadline for Submissions Extended to 1 March

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 11:56:02 +0100

The deadline for interested parties to participate in External Demonstrations at the 2013 European ITS Congress has been extended until the 1 March

If you are interested in demonstrating Intelligent Transport Systems and Solutions we will endeavour to accommodate all qualifying demonstrations at a suitable location in the vicinity of the Congress venue. For more information on the call for demonstrations click here.

The slogan for the ITS 2013 Congress in Dublin is “ITS: Real Solutions for Real Needs”. All regions face similar challenges in delivering sustainable transport solutions to meet their current and future mobility requirements.

Transport authorities are aware of the real needs specific to their region but often find it difficult to identify detailed information on targeted ITS solutions that would deliver direct and tangible positive outcomes.

The ITS 2013 Congress will primarily focus on ITS solutions that are driven by policy as opposed to being technology-led. The emphasis will be on proven deployed solutions and innovative R&D that is focused on solving real problems and delivering value for money in today’s challenging economic environment.

Priority will be given to demonstrations that focus on delivered ITS solutions (or those in advanced state of development) that address real mobility issues that regions/cities/towns/ authorities face on a day-to-day basis.

Visit the 9th ITS European Congress website and follow us on Twitter @ITS_Congresses!

COMPASS first newsletter available

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 12:00:21 +0100

The European project COMPASS (optimised CO-Modal PASSenger transport for reducing carbon emissions) has released its first newsletter!

The newsletter has been realized jointly with the project OPTIMISM (Optimising Passenger Transport Information to Materialize Insights for Sustainable Mobility) and shows the first results and deliverables achieved by COMPASS and offers more details on COMPASS objectives.

The idea of a joint newsletter between COMPASS and OPTIMIS comes from the fact that these two projects show great affinities as well as share common objectives. Both projects propose a set of strategies, recommendations and policy measures, through the scientific analysis of social behaviour, mobility patterns and business models, for integrating and optimising the transport system. This will be based on the modelling and the assessment of the impact of co-modality and ICT solutions for transport.

There is a cluster among some activities of COMPASS and OPTIMISM and some results obtained in OPTMISM will be used in COMPASS. Therefore, it came naturally to try and share knowledge on common issues.

Experts behind Intelligent Transport - CGI

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:40:30 +0100

Our transport systems are vital for our people and the goods that we produce and consume. Which is where we can help. We apply our in depth industry knowledge and experience across all transport modes to help you meet your policy objectives and increase your business efficiency.

This video will introduce some of our experts behind the project that we deliver for our clients. With over 40 years of experience in the industry, we've been at the forefront of many ITS technologies. We are the Experts behind Intelligent Transport.

The "Internet of Mobility" - Building better ITS services in Europe

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:16:17 +0200

By Ian Bearder

On 29 January 2013, I arrived at the office a little bit early, so I could check my emails and help with last-minute arrangements for the launch of our exciting new project called MOBiNET.

I was given an important task. I was to arrange a taxi to take me and my colleagues from the ERTICO office in Brussels to the Volvo office on the other side of the city.

We needed to be at the venue for 10:30 so we could setup and prepare everything before the guests all arrived at 11:00. "No problem" I thought, as I walked off to find someone who could help me call a taxi in French.

My optimism was short lived.

Just minutes later I discovered that Brussels' taxi drivers were on strike from 10am - the exact time we needed a lift! In fact, it was the exact time that all the attendees from our 34 project partners would also need a taxi. This was bad news.

Most, if not all of the guests were arriving from other parts of Europe so they would already be in Brussels and I had no way to contact them. Furthermore, most of them would be unfamiliar with the local transport network and unaware that they could get to the venue on the number 83 tram or bus number 84. If only there was an easy way to notify them...

As it was, there was very little we could do, so we set-off early and hoped for the best. We arrived OK and depite the taxi strike and atrocious weather our guests eventually found the venue. A little-bit wet, but otherwise in good spirits our project team had arrived from across Europe and Project Coordinator Paul Kompfner was ready for business. The kick-off meeting could begin.

As mentioned, we were about to launch a new project called MOBiNET. But, you're probably wondering what MOBiNET is, right? Well, let me explain...

MOBiNET is a new ERTICO-led project which plans to develop and run an 'Internet of mobility'.

This 'Internet of mobility' is quite difficult to explain, but put simply, it will be a platform that links transport services and end users.

By developing a set of common tools and standards (collectively known as MOBiNET), the idea is make to mobile transport services, such as journey planning, automated ticketing, billing and vehicle tracking more accessible and more usable.

As a 'cloud based' system MOBiNET will make it much easier for software developers to create new online transport services (good for business) and make it much easier for people like you and me to use them - which is good for consumers.

Is it necessary?

I think the travel problems we experienced at the start of our day highlight exactly why it is. Modern intelligent transport systems and services (ITS) use mobile communications networks and information technology (Smartphones, GPS trackers etc.) to make travel safer, smarter and cleaner. However, developing, deploying and using these services is still problematic.

If a simple interface existed that could harness the power of online communications, multi-modal travel planners, online mapping and automated ticketing – our unexpected taxi strike wouldn't have been a big deal. Our guests could have been quickly informed and easily rescheduled their travel arrangements.

Let's take telematics as another example. The telematics industry provides vehicle monitoring and information services. These services have been developed by insurance companies who may now offer products based on the way that their customers drive.

The problem is however that many of these systems have each been developed independently, using different specifications and different standards. This means that its frustratingly difficult (not to mention expensive) to integrate them with other, similar services. From a user's perspctive, this means added complexity and confusion, and it often means that additional software applications (apps) are required to run each service.

Think about it. How would you currently find these apps? How would you pay for them? And would any single app be able to complete all the travel planning, monitoring and billing required?

These are some of the problems MOBiNET will try to address. By creating a standardised platform, MOBiNET would increase the compatibility of transport services. This increased compatibility means less duplication, less duplication means less confusion, and less confusion naturally makes life easier. ‘Ease of access' sits at the core of MOBiNET.

The real project buzzwords are well known to software developers: compatibility, extensibility and usability.

Jacques Amselem, CEO of Allianz Telematics and a member of the MOBiNET project team explained the problems with the current market: "The issue we have with telematics is that all the solutions we have seen so far are very vertical and very propriety and this is causing some issues in terms of business development and customer perception. That is why we believe that MOBiNET is the right way to go and we believe that it is the solution for the future development of telematics"

Marco Annoni - Innovation Area Manager at Telecom Italia, said his company had joined the project to help define a common set of standards: "In our view, the project is innovative because it is a common approach which is not just targeting common interests. In the past we have seen many vertical deployments based on local requirements. With MOBiNET we are aiming to find a solution which is more general, more flexible and more re-usable. Once we have a common view at a European level it will become an enabler for many different stakeholders."

Breaking New Ground

As a research project, MOBiNET is an interesting entity. Not only is it truly trans-European, with project partners from across the continent, but it also aims to continue as a working organisation at the end of the project. This means there are both technical and administrative aspects that need to be considered and the consortium will have to set out a viable business case for MOBiNET.

Project Coordinator Paul Kompfner, Head of SmartMobility at ERTICO, is under no illusion that this will be easy:"Our ambition is to establish MOBiNET as THE connected mobility and transport service platform for all of Europe’s travellers and transport service suppliers; it seems a staggering challenge but we are confident we can achieve this since we have the right solution features and partners to do it."

To help deliver a working and useable system, MOBiNET has adopted a method of accelerated development known as 'agile'. This means that a fully operational, first-generation system will be released just 16 months after the project is launched. Tests will take place at eight pilot sites across Europe and the feedback and results gained will then provide input for the development of the system ahead of the next product release. Testing will be conducted with businesses from both inside and outside the project consortium and potential users of the platform are thus invited to work alongside the project team to gain an early experience of MOBiNET’s advantages. If you are interested in this unique opportunity I would be happy to hear from you.

Finally, I am pleased to say that despite bad weather and taxi-chaos our kick-off meeting in Brussels was a great success and everyone at ERTICO would like to thank those who attended. As always though - the real value of MOBiNET will be crafted over the coming months and years as the project progresses.

I look forward to following this process and reporting news and updates as the MOBiNET project develops. If, in three years time we have integrated services which can transport me, in the most efficient way, from place-to-place despite heavy rain and a taxi strike - MOBiNET will be one 'big cloud' I am happy to see.

The MOBiNET platform

• An online B2B directory of Europe-wide transport data and services

• A unified mobile accounting, payment and clearing system, giving users a single account valid throughout Europe and simplifying roaming among providers

• An open business environment enabling providers to integrate third-party services with their own products

• A secure environment for in-vehicle and portable devices offering users a dedicated app-store, and service providers access to MOBiNET-compliant user devices

• A business-to-business e-marketplace for the automatic negotiation of service agreements

• A Service Development Kit to simplify the creation of innovative MOBiNET services for end- and business users

2013 is looking better than ever

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:35:44 +0200

by Carla Coppola

After our in-depth review of what was a very exciting 2012, this month we take a glimpse at 2013 and we can say without doubt that 2013 couldn't start better!

Three major projects, Compass4D,MOBiNET and HeERO2, kicked-off in January and you can be sure that you will hear more about them in the next years.

With 31 partners and 7 pilot cities, Compass4D is hoping to deploy cooperative services that will make mobility in cities safer and greener. The particularity of Compass4D is that different means of transport will be involved; not only private cars but also buses, taxis and emergency vehicles will undergo the testing in these 7 very different cities (Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Eindhoven-Helmond, Newcastle, Thessaloniki, Verona and Vigo). The kick-off took place in Vigo, Spain; the meetings and media encounters will then move to Copenhagen at the end of April, and so forth for the next three years until the final event in Bordeaux in 2015 during the ITS World Congress.

With its eye on the future of transport and mobility, MOBiNET has the ambitious goal of developing and deploying a Europe-wide cloud platform for ITS services. With a bulky budget of 15.6 million Euros, this 44-month project will provide tools for developers of next-generation mobility “apps” for users, as well as business enablers for providers of all types of mobility services and content. MOBiNET features include single user identity and mobility services account; Europe-wide virtual transport ticketing; business-to-business directory of European services and content and E-marketplace; and a MOBiNET “app-store” and user interface.

2013 Spring and Autumn seasons will be sparkling with ITS. After the outstanding exhibition and programme presented in Vienna last year, ERTICO is working on two major ITS events: the 9th ITS European Congress in Dublin and the 20th ITS World Congress in Tokyo.

In Europe, with the call for papers is now closed, with over 300 papers submitted ( good luck to the reviewers), and with the registrations to be opened at the beginning of March, it is easy to imagine how busy ERTICO Congress team is. The exhibition will be up and running at the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD) in the heart of Dublin City on 4 June for four full days with hundreds of sessions carefully selected to appeal all the ITS heads participating in the event.

Following Dublin, we travel to Tokyo where the Japanese hosts are putting all their efforts to guarantee a spectacular event in the Tokyo Big Sight, one of the largest convention venues of the city. As the 20th ITS World Congress will take place from 14 to 18 October, attendees still have a few more months before they are stunned by the excellence of Japanese transport systems.

On the activities side, energy efficiency and reduction of carbon emissions is becoming a central issue amongst Member States as the focus on several projects is testifying. The ECOeffect training programme has started its second demo-tour around Poland, Romania and Czech Republic to support truck drivers in finding a more efficient way to drive and save fuel. The third demo tour will coincide with a big final event in September where public authorities will be invited to discuss and touch with hands the eco-driving benefits.

Another two EU funded projects, COSMO and Ecomove, will conclude their activities in 2013 with two final events respectively in May and November. In the past 2 and half years COSMO looked at demonstrating the benefits of cooperative services in realistic conditions by quantifying the effect of different traffic management systems – for example multimodal real-time travel information systems - on fuel consumption and traffic emissions.

Along the same lines, eCoMove focused its research on vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technologies to create concrete solutions such as eco-driving support and eco-traffic management, to reduce energy consumption for passengers and goods vehicles. The project results will be presented in Aachen, Germany, during the project’s final event on 20 and 21 November.

eCall is still considered one of the most EU high profile projects and it will remain a central issue after 2015, when all new European vehicles will be equipped with the emergency call service. The pilot projects implementing the service, HeERO 1 and HeERO 2 , will run in parallel throughout the year until the 2nd International HeERO Conference in Bucharest in November, which will mark the end of HeERO1 and unveil the final results. This conference will also be an occasion for interested stakeholders to discuss HeERO 2 preliminary results in the 6 new test sites in Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, and Turkey and to participate in demonstrations on how eCall is activated and received by the system in the national protection and rescue offices.

Part of the ERTICO activities involves studies on driver behaviour and their impact of road safety. In June 2012, the EuroFOT project concluded that driver assistance technologies might have a positive effect on the driver behaviour and, as consequence, on road safety, traffic efficiency and environment. This year we carry on the research on large-scale naturalistic driving studies (NDS) and field operation tests (FOT) with two projects UDRIVE and FOT-Net . Between February and October, several workshops will be organised in Brussels and elsewhere to look deeply into these studies and their possible benefits.

Another initiative, the coordinated and supported action (CSA) 79GHz has set up ambitious objectives for 2013. The project will look at speeding-up worldwide harmonised frequency allocations for vehicular radars in the 77 GHz to 81 GHz (79GHz) frequency range while focusing on different countries in Asia (Japan, India, China) and Americas (USA, Canada, Brazil). For technical reasons, the frequency range between 77 and 81 GHz provides an exceptional performance for the Short Range Radar (SRR) used for different applications. Considering that European vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers make business at a global level, 79GHz project will provide a wide range of benefits by avoiding the segmentation of the overall market by region specific frequency variants that increases the cost of production and reduces competitiveness. Also, 79GHz will focus on the recently founded “IARREG - International Automotive Radio Regulations Expert Group” promoting the interests of the worldwide automotive industry concerning regulatory issues on radio based automotive systems and components; the use of the appropriate harmonised frequency bands for radio based automotive application within the existing and future regulatory environment; the maintenance of appropriate existing frequency bands.

To sum up new projects, new policies designed for citizens’ safety and environment protection, new business models knocking on the door with international cooperation remaining a central focus for ERTICO. What has been mentioned so far represents only few of the planned activities of the ERTICO partnership for 2013. Even if this year we will have one day less (2012 was a leap year in case you were wondering why you were so tired in December) we are convinced that it will be a great year for Intelligent Transport Systems. Be ready for the ride.

Changing technology and evolving consumer demand

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:17:59 +0100

by Laura Johnstone

The rapid advance of technology has changed many aspects of our daily lives to an extent which was entirely unpredictable just a decade ago. At the turn of the millennium, few would have foreseen our society become so inextricably entangled in the web of new communication tools which we have come to rely on so strongly in such a short period.

Mobility is no exception, and technology here is moving perhaps faster than in many other sectors. Technologies which were novel just a few short years ago are evolving almost beyond recognition thanks to the emergence of low-cost, open-source tools, the decrease in mobile hardware costs and the widespread mobile coverage which we now take for granted.

Services are more consumer-driven than ever before and the vehicle is the next frontier of the connectivity revolution, with unprecedented potential for new services and features targeted at travellers. On 13 February, ERTICO Partners and FIA members were hosted by the RACC in Barcelona to assess the upcoming trends in personal mobility and to discuss the opportunities and challenges for automobile clubs.

Three issues in particular arose in the presentations given and subsequent discussions: ensuring the availability of open and high quality data for traffic information, safeguarding free and fair competition alongside safety and driver privacy when it comes to in-vehicle services, and identifying new, sustainable business models for service providers and automobile clubs.

Traffic information

Personal navigation devices have come a long way since their original rise in popularity during the early part of the last decade thanks to the availability of GPS and the commercialisation of map making for this purpose, with ever more routes mapped out and made available to drivers at the touch of a button.

Moreover, the advent of the smartphone has provided travellers with thousands of possibilities for calculating the smartest way to reach their destination. Indeed, a quick glance at the most popular navigation apps page on the Apple Appstore shows 240 apps enticing the user to beat the traffic, avoid getting caught out by speed cameras or find the cheapest car park in the area.

Whilst free competition and choice is undoubtedly good for users and a positive force in the market, the question of quality arises: what are the data sources for all of these apps, and are they really providing high quality information that gets the user from A to B following the most efficient and safest route?

At policy level, the European Commission has shown its support for optimising the use of road, traffic and travel data and providing a free minimum information service as one focus of the ITS Action Plan. Furthermore, the need for cooperation between the public and private sectors regarding the exchange of data, the deployment of monitoring devices and management of data quality was highlighted in the guidelines for ITS deployment in urban areas on multimodal information recently published by the EC Urban ITS Expert Group EC Urban ITS Expert Group. Such actions should crack open sources of reliable data and also help to meet policy goals by providing consumers with more quality choices and encouraging travellers to shift to other modes of transport.

Automobile clubs themselves have already made a strong foray into the smartphone world, with many of them providing a variety of apps for their customers and for motorists in general, a common one of which is of course traffic and travel information. But in the face of such stiff competition, notably from those offering similar services for free, how can the clubs differentiate their offering to an extent that consumers are willing to part with their cash?

The answer again lies in the quality of data. More and more traffic and travel information services are based on huge data aggregation operations, which certainly provide plenty of information, but as it is difficult to verify the quality of such volumes of data, the information provided to the user may not always be accurate. By focusing on ensuring high quality data in their apps and utilising the club brand, automobile clubs are able to compete with the larger, international players in this field.

Safeguarding free and fair competition alongside safety and driver privacy when it comes to in-vehicle services

The implementation of the EU-wide eCall service in 2015 is set to be the largest deployment of an in-vehicle telematics system ever seen. eCall is purely a safety device, but its implementation is widely viewed as opening the door for many other in-vehicle telematics based services, ranging from b-call services and remote diagnostics to new insurance services and even entertainment functions.

The possibilities in this field are exciting, both for consumers who have become so attached to the smartphones and the apps that make our lives easier - extending smart, useful and dynamic services to the vehicle is an appetising prospect, and for industry which sees an opportunity to join the connectivity boom and utilise services to reach goals such as increased safety and cleaner mobility.

However, there are a number of issues to be solved in order to reach widespread deployment of in-vehicle telematics systems, including how to minimise driver distraction and develop a common HMI, ensuring the security of data and driver privacy and who controls the system and its content. Even how the telematics system will operate is up for debate; some envisage embedded systems as we will experience with the eCall system, whilst others see a link between the smartphone and the vehicle, as has been developed by several vehicle manufacturers and suppliers.

It is widely acknowledged that in-vehicle telematics services are set to play a big role in personalised mobility in the coming years, and for the automobile clubs it is especially important to ensure that consumers have free choice in selecting the best services - which should be safeguarded through an open market and free competition in the context of the relevant legal frameworks.

Identifying new, sustainable business models for automobile clubs

The rise of the internet has opened up a whole new market, with new key players, new audiences and new ways of doing business. The traditional business models of telecommunications operators often didn’t fit with this new way of connecting, communicating and experiencing products or services and as a result a new generation of tech companies sprang into action with innovative organisational and business models, based on shared content and shared revenue.

In an online world dominated by just a small number of monoliths which are both able and keen to diversify their business, traditional technology and service providers have had to adapt to keep up with evolving consumer demand. Consumers have become used to having the freshest, most relevant information in their hands with just a few swipes of a touch screen, and this is especially the case when it comes to travel information. Identifying a clear position in the virtual market, with strong differentiation of products and services from those of competitors is key to survival.

Outside of the stranglehold of the big players, firms tend to differentiate on the basis of quality, and seek to capitalise on a brand name that has been built over years in the real world, as we see with the automobile clubs traffic and travel apps.

But can long established brands retain this niche in the market in the face of a new generation of consumers – those who are connected almost from birth and are more familiar with doing business online using innovative ways of paying for content than with the traditional idea of simply paying a fixed price for a fixed service?

This will pose a great challenge in the future, and given that we have so far been unable to accurately predict how or to what extent our connected society will continue to transform, technology and service providers need to pay extremely close attention to developments and the emergence of new trends in the market.

However, whilst attempting to look forward and predict trends is both worthwhile and necessary, it is also risky. Just look back three decades to the 1970s and consider the astounding technological progress that has been made since then – the world is almost unrecognisable! In three decades from now – around 2050 – what will our society look like, and will we be looking back at 2013 and reminiscing about a simpler time?

Technology and service providers, including the automobile clubs, are embracing opportunities to provide more diverse and higher quality services to travellers. The success of new services, especially from established brands, demonstrates that, for now at least, quality of information and quality of service is valued by travellers. Continued innovation and responsiveness to consumer demand will be vital in ensuring this success in the future.

Finally, in order to overcome the many uncertainties of this dynamic and sometimes erratic sector, it is clear that strong coordination, exchange of information and positive, forward-looking cooperation between all stakeholders must be actively pursued and promoted.

Interview with Abel Caballero

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 16:28:02 +0100

What do you think the challenges are that cities, and in particular Vigo, are facing nowadays in terms of transport and mobility? And what advice would you give to local administrations to improve citizen’s every-day mobility?

Vigo has around 300.000 inhabitants and a frenetic city life due to its diversified economy linked to the fisheries and automotive sectors, and the naval industry and services. As a consequence, every day, the urban roads are populated with more than 500.000 people, including a significant part of freight and logistics.

This growth of the urban planning is of course very positive for the city economy but it represents a challenge for the transport network management. In order to face these challenges, the city council has deployed, over the years, a huge infrastructure for the control and management in real time of the traffic flow. The control room of the traffic management and control centre is equipped with 23 screens, a video wall (to monitor the cameras in the city) and 3 synoptic panels to monitor the urban tunnels and the traffic light networks in the city. This control centre manages and controls traffic light networks; the 6 urban traffic tunnels; the access control of the historic part of the city; and the communications infrastructure.

I think that these concerns are shared by many other medium-sized cities and it is this kind of urban agglomerate that local administrations have to invest in now for the future. Investing in transport and mobility not only means improving the quality of life of citizens every day, but also making the city more welcoming to external bodies and businesses. They all need information to make their driving safer, less stressful and more energy efficient.

Vigo is one of the seven cities taking part in the EU Compass4D project. What is the advantage for Vigo to deploy cooperative systems for transport? Would you like to share your expertise and cooperate with other European cities?

In Vigo, we are aware of the fantastic opportunity that Compass4D cooperative technologies can provide to improve safety and energy efficiency and reduce traffic congestion. Vigo is a city very much related to the automotive business; we have very big factories and we are second in Europe with 500.000 cars produced every year. We have a very large harbour with ships for exporting cars and we are very much interested in the technology, having also CTAG - the Automotive Technological Centre of Galicia - working every day on research, development and innovation of traffic technologies for different automotive companies.

Also, Vigo has invested a lot in new route systems; it is a city set on a mountain and having good roads that can assure safety to our citizens especially in dangerous turn is fundamental. I would say that the geographical structure of the city, together with the efforts on regenerating traffic networks, makes Vigo an excellent test site for development and testing of the three services (Forward Collision Warning; Red Light Violation Warning; Energy Efficient Intersection service) that the project will implement. I am confident that the Council of Vigo, together with the team of local partners involved in the project such as CTAG, VITRASA (the city bus company) and ESYCSA (the local traffic and communications provider) will play a fundamental role in achieving the project targets.

With this basis, Vigo will certainly become one of the city leaders in cooperative systems, we are working hard to create a smart city and we are very much in favour of sharing our experience, also through Compass4D, with the other Spanish cities as well as European ones. Let's not forget that Compass4D is deploying services in seven cities very different from each other.

With the current financial crisis, several industries are facing economic problems. Why do you think that entrepreneurs and administrations should invest in the automotive industry? Do you consider Intelligent Transport System an additional cost or a way to increase cost efficiency of urban mobility?

In such a situation of global economic crisis like the current one, administrations and large industries have to make a big effort, bigger than if they were in a normal situation. Intelligent Transport Systems are an investment for the future for a better life of our citizens.

What type of policies that benefit cities do you think the EU should focus on? What more can be done at European level?

The EU has to create a strong link between national and regional administrations. We need a solid starting point and cooperation if we want to prove the benefits of European policies that citizens need.

Therefore an important part of the European Institutions work should focus on coordinating and well planning the future policies to invest in our future.

Second ECOeffect Polish demo-tour: It's all about the people

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:10:07 +0100

The second Polish ECOeffect Demo Tour has got underway at the Warsaw Convention Centre with the emphasis on people as much as technology.

The Dutch Director of HSF Logistics, Gerard Reijers, got things underway in fluent Polish by welcoming the delegates and explaining the benefits offered by the comprehensive ECOeffect training programme before IRU head of training Patrick Philipp highlighted ECOeffect's goals and objectives, reiterating the programme's ethos of save time, save fuel, save money and gave details of how companies participating in the training programmes are also the beneficiaries of happier and more satisfied drivers.

GoGreen's Joakim Gudmundsen gave his unique insight into the concept of ECOeffect and shed light on the differences between and benefits offered by the three-day Train The Trainer (TTT) programme and the one-day ECOeffect Driver Programme (EDP). Also crucial to the success of the training's implementation is the necessity to provide refreshment training, something that other Ecodriving courses are often unable to provide. One of the many unique selling points of ECOeffect in a nutshell.

Another key initiative is the often thorny-subject of driver monitoring. Many Ecodriving courses offer no post-course support for drivers or trainers but ECOeffect's driver monitoring system provides fleet operators with timely and accurate reports of how drivers are performing. Far from being treated as a negative issue by drivers, says Key Driving's Kris Jooris, drivers can use their results in a competitive way, going to head to head with their colleagues to see which one has performed the best over the course of a week or month.

The simple process for obtaining and using company results was outlined by KDC's Lizzy Evens.

The driver monitoring issue engendered a lively debate which saw Reijers rejoin the fray and offer a frank description of the benefits of driver monitoring and quantitative and qualitative evaluation that have been experienced by HSF.

The overriding theme of all presentations was the human factor.

Without the compliance of willing participants, willing to purchase ECOeffect courses, willing to implement the course suggestions and maintain and act upon the long-term results of the driver monitoring system, ECOeffect would be just another Ecodriving course in an already crowded marketplace. However, its comprehensive approach and innovative follow-up scheme sets it apart from its competitors.

For more information on the ECOeffect Training Programme, visit ECOeffect website.

Your trip on a cloud

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:42:58 +0100

Your trip on a cloud

5 February 2013, Brussels.

New EU project launches to develop an 'Internet of mobility' and simplify the deployment of intelligent transport services in Europe.

Over the next three and a half years, the €15.6 million MOBiNET project plans to capitalise on the widespread growth in smartphones, mobile data services, and cloud-based computing to launch a new generation of travel apps for European citizens, and transport services for businesses and local authorities.

Intelligent transport services (ITS) apply leading-edge mobile communications and information technology to make travel safer, smarter and cleaner – but the challenge is to deploy these Europe-wide and to create a market for ITS products and services. The MOBiNET solution is to create a community of transport data and service providers that can link to users through a Europe-wide framework or ‘service platform’.

This platform will help service providers offer enhanced services to existing subscribers as well as to reach new customers. For users, MOBiNET will offer a common interface which will help them find and subscribe to new types of mobile services such as real-time multimodal travel assistance, parking guidance, booking and payment schemes or Europe-wide virtual tickets for transit services.

To create this 'Internet of Mobility', the MOBiNET service platform will deliver the following features:

• An online B2B directory of Europe-wide transport data and services

• A unified mobile accounting, payment and clearing system, giving users a single account valid throughout Europe and simplifying roaming among providers

• An open business environment enabling providers to integrate third-party services with their own products

• A secure environment for in-vehicle and portable devices offering users a dedicated app-store, and service providers access to MOBiNET-compliant user devices

• A business-to-business e-marketplace for the automatic negotiation of service agreements

• A Service Development Kit to simplify the creation of innovative MOBiNET services for end- and business users.

To ensure that MOBiNET results in an operational platform attracting the majority of transport and mobility service and data providers, the consortium will build the foundations of a public-private organisation driven by its members, that will oversee and manage the MOBiNET platform, and grow the MOBiNET supplier community, beyond the end of the project’s term.

Members of the MOBiNET project consortium at the launch event in Brussels

MOBiNET has adopted a method of accelerated development, meaning that a fully operational first-generation system will be released 16 months after the project start. This system will be tested at eight pilot sites across Europe to allow feedback and improvements before the next product release. The goal is to create an early version of the platform that will be improved and extended according to experience of early users. This will include businesses from outside the consortium as well as project partners. Potential users of the platform are thus invited to work alongside the project team to gain an early experience of MOBiNET’s advantages for suppliers and user groups.

Project Coordinator Paul Kompfner, Head of SmartMobility at ERTICO ITS - Europe, explains his vision:

"Our ambition is to establish MOBiNET as THE Connected Mobility & Transport service platform for all of Europe’s travellers and transport service suppliers; it seems a staggering challenge but we are confident we can achieve this since we have the right solution features and partners to do it."

For further information please contact

Ian Bearder i.bearder@mail.ertico.com (+32 2 400 07 38)

or Julie Castermans j.castermans@mail.ertico.com (+32 2 400 07 26)

The MOBiNET project is comprised of 34 partners. They are: ERTICO - ITS Europe, Xerox, Pluservice, SINTEF, NORTH DENMARK REGION, TI, VTT, TOPOS, Tecnalia, VOLVO, TNO, Peek Traffic, CRF, NEC, CTAG, TfL, ACS, PTV, NXP-NL, DLR, Mizar, IRU Projects, Allianz, ICCS, Thales Services, INFO TRIP AE, KEYRESEARCH, AAU, ACASA, Infoblu, CGI-NL, 5T, NPRA, GateHouse

ERTICO is a partnership of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS) stakeholders active in Europe. The Partners comprise public authorities, industry players, infrastructure operators, users, national ITS associations and other organisations. The ERTICO Partnership and its supporting team of skilled professionals work on a portfolio of activities to accelerate the development and deployment of ITS across Europe and beyond.

A MOBiNET factsheet is available here which gives additional information about the project and the project partners.

Future Internet event and Instant Mobility final demonstration

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:34:43 +0100

The Future Internet Public-Private Partnership (FI-PPP) is a three-phased research programme co-funded by the European Commission. Its, which objectives are to:

develop software “generic enablers” for the Future Internet, which can be used as a common Future Internet Core Platform;
define requirements for the Core Platform and use cases for field trials implementation to demonstrate the value of the Future Internet
identify infrastructure capacities to support Phase 2 trials, and federation of infrastructures to provide a pan-European facility for Phase 3 pilots

With the end of its Phase One and the approaching launch of the second phase, the FI-PPP is already looking to mobilise stakeholders for phase three. Therefore we have organised a large-scale event to share our vision, objectives and outcomes.

This event is organised in conjunction with Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, on 28 February- 1 March 2013, with the aim of engaging stakeholders such as SMEs, developers, cities, regions, industry and end-users, and raise their awareness of all the possibilities to participate and benefit from the FI-PPP.

Instant Mobility, one of the usage area projects of the Phase One, representing the transport and mobility use cases, will be demonstrating its three scenarios on multimodal journey planning, urban freight delivery and traffic management in the cloud. The event will also include a conference and workshops to communicate and discuss the results of Phase One and explain the benefits in different application domains of this new business ecosystem based on open interfaces, enabling third party services and applications to emerge and develop into new markets.

If you are interested in meeting and joining the Future Internet PPP community, register for the event here (this event is free of charge).

The Future Internet PPP will also be present at the Mobile World Congress 2013 exhibition area, with multiple demo slots and possibility to directly engage with all the projects and the programme. Join us at the MWC 2013 in Hall 8, first floor (8.1 - App Planet)!

Follow us @FI_PPP to get all the news about this event.

Download the event flyer here

Increasing cross-border mobility in Central Europe

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:53:30 +0100

EU-funded Project EDITS launched in Vienna

The project EDITS (European Digital Traffic Infrastructure Network for Intelligent Transport Systems) aims at enhancing the mobility of Central European citizens by providing interoperable and multimodal traveller information services based on a harmonised platform for data and information exchange.

EDITS is implemented through the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The project embraces 13 partners from five countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia), and is coordinated by Austri-aTech in its role as lead partner (an agency of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, In-novation and Technology). The kick-off meeting of the EDITS-Project took place in Vienna on 4th of October, 2012. The total budget amounts to € 2.42 Million and will last for 30 months until December 2014.

Interfaces across national boundaries

EDITS works on improving existing traveller information services as well as setting up traffic management solutions. Central part in EDITS is the adoption of a specified EDITS Graph In-tegration Platform (EDITS-GIP) and commonly agreed EDITS-GIP-Interface to allow the ex-change of traffic related information among regions. By providing quality services of this kind – covering different modes of transport as well as regions - the mobility behaviour of the single traveller will be improved.

The EDITS partners decided to take up the challenge of providing multimodal traveller and traffic information and reliable data to end-users in order to overcome existing problems such as congestion and bottlenecks in the cross border area, to foster multimodal chains, to facilitate the cross border exchange of information and bridge the gap between the fragmented national and regional systems.

International interest on cross border solutions

The topic of the EDITS project was also discussed during the ITS World Congress 2012 in Vienna from 22nd to 26th of October 2012 where the ITS community gathered to discuss the latest trends and policies in Intelligent Transport Systems. Within a special interest session national and regional approaches to provide and exchange accurate public data for digital maps to improve traveller information services have been discussed by EDITS partners as well as international experts.

Despite the fact that the project has started only recently, it was inserted within the Action Plan accompanying the European Union’s Strategy for the Danube Region (Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions SEC (2010) 1489 final) where one of the key actions in priority area 1 (to improve mobility and multimodality) is focusing on the deployment of multimodal services. EDITS will be one of the flagship initiatives that will provide improved traveller and traffic information and will allow for a more efficient management and use of the existing transport infrastructure.

Links

• www.edits-project.eu

• www.central2013.eu

• www.austriatech.at

Contact for more information:

Martin Böhm | martin.boehm@austriatech.at

AustriaTech - Federal Agency for Technological Measures Ltd.

T: +43 1 26 33 444; F: +43 1 26 33 444 10

Ana Sinkovic | sinkovic@cei.int

Central European Initiative - Executive Secretariat

T: +39-040-7786758

New EU project starts deploying road safety and energy efficiency services in seven European cities

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:27:03 +0100

On 28 Januray ERTICO - ITS Europe announced the launch of the new EU co-funded project Compass4D. The project will prove the benefits of cooperative systems and deploy services for road users to increase road safety and energy efficiency, while reducing the level of congestion in road transport.

Compass4D target users are drivers of buses, emergency vehicles, trucks, taxis, electric vehicles and private cars. They all need information to make their driving safer, less stressful and more energy efficient. As a consequence, bus drivers will get support to better keep their time schedules. Emergency vehicles will safely reduce response times to emergency situations and drivers of electric vehicles will benefit from extended driving range. Truck, taxi and bus drivers will be more relaxed when travelling through equipped intersections.

One of the cooperative Intelligent Transport Services (ITS) promoted by Compass4D is the Energy Efficient Intersection Control, giving priority to emergency vehicles and allowing all vehicles to adapt their speed to the traffic lights timing.

The work of Compass4D is driven by the needs of cities and public road authorities, which will play a central role in the project as providers of real-time information provided by the infrastructure to the vehicles. The services implemented by Compass4D will be kept even after the end of the project, therefore solid business models and exploitation plans will be developed to ensure the continuity and future sustainability of the services. The work plan includes standardisation for global deployment and cooperation with US and Japanese associates.

The Compass4D consortium consists of 31 partners from 10 countries and is coordinated by ERTICO - ITS Europe. It started in January 2013 and it will last three years.

The pilots of real life driving will involve at least 574 users and 334 vehicles in 7 European cities (Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Eindhoven-Helmond, Newcastle, Thessaloniki, Verona and Vigo) over one year, but the amount of users and vehicles are expected to grow during the project.

The Mayor of Vigo, Mr Abel Caballero, and other high-level executives, including Matthew Vincent, Deputy Sales and Marketing Director at Siemens; Hossein Zakizadeh, Director Connected Vehicle & Infrastructure at Volvo and representatives from the City of Copenhagen, CTAG, ESYCSA and VITRASA attended the press conference held on 28 January 2013 in Vigo (Spain) on the occasion of the kick-off meeting of the project.

For more information on the project, please contact Pierpaolo Tona - Compass4D project coordinator

For all media enquiries, please contact Carla Coppola

Compass 4D is co-financed by the European Commission under the CIP - Competitiveness and Innovation Programme and is coordinated by ERTICO - ITS Europe

Follow us on Twitter! @Compass4D
Visit the website: www.compass4d.eu

Easy-OBU - Robust positioning made easy

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:10:35 +0100

Easy-OBU is a European Research Project co-funded in the 7th FP of the European Commission and managed by the European GNSS Agency. The main objective of Easy-OBU project is to introduce and demonstrate an inexpensive, portable on-board-unit (OBU) with open interfaces that allow retrospective robust positioning of vehicles for those instances where no or insufficient signal reception from navigation satellites were available.

When the visibility to GNSS is lost (e.g. in tunnels) users of navigation systems have the choice to either wait until visibility is available again or to provide some sort of dissimilar sensor redundancy. In this regard the group of inertial sensors is the only way to provide a fully autonomous navigation unit without any interface to the vehicle. But in order to obtain accurate positioning during satellite signal outages one has to invest in expensive sensors to ensure high quality inertial navigation and is needed if real-time positioning is necessary at all times.

However, if a time-delay of a few minutes once the navigation signal is available again is acceptable, the project Easy-OBU examines a solution that allows retrospective calculation of the path the vehicle took with accuracy comparable to those of the original satellite signals. In addition, this solution does not have to rely on expensive equipment or complicated vehicle installations.

A number of applications have already been identified and will form the basis for the definition of
user requirements:

Route controlling and proof of service for special vehicle fleets (e.g. for hazardous
goods, or winter services)
Car sharing (pay per use)
Electronic toll collection
Calculation of CO2 Footprint
Public Transport: documentation of delivered performance in transport kilometre as justification for received subsidies, etc.

The Easy-OBU solution relies on the use of inexpensive inertial sensors, built into the on-boardunit (OBU) and an intelligent non-causal filtering (NCF) approach. The sensors capture the motion in all six degrees of freedom (translational and rotational) and are all integrated into the OBU unit and require no data exchange with in-vehicle systems. The OBU acquires the GPSfixes and the sensor data and sends this information to a central server, where it is stored in a dedicated data base. This allows the application of the NCF approach in order to approximate the route taken by the vehicle during the signal outage. NCF assures that the error does not built up as it does during normal filtering operations. NCF is applied in the central server and has full access to the data base to extract the relevant position and sensor information to refine the overall quality in two ways:

Retrospective gap filling - improve availability
Compensation of large position errors - improve accuracy

An open interface from the Easy-OBU system towards the user application provides a welldefined
access to the processed and refined position data of the linked vehicle fleet. The
provided positions and trajectories can be further explored in the respective management and
control systems of the individual application.

The basic features of the Easy-OBU systems are defined as:

Light weight and small in size
Highly portable and easy install in vehicle
Flexible to access through well-defined interfaces
Highly affordable, as OBU comes at low cost (including vehicle integration)
Flexible in regard to its usage, as it may serve a whole spectrum of different applications

It is the goal of Easy-OBU to make high accuracy positioning available during navigation signal
outages at low costs and ensure integration into existing navigation applications by the use of
well documented open interfaces.

Taxistars project is launched

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:21:49 +0100

Within the context of the IRU’s Taxi! Anytime, Anywhere initiative and building on its values of safety and environmental performance, IRU Projects has received funding from the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme to participate in “Taxistars” – a 36-month project that will develop Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based training materials and training programmes to assist taxi drivers in learning the necessary skills to deal with road and workplace safety, emergency situations and environmental issues such as eco-driving. IRU Projects will work in close cooperation with the IRU Academy and other partners from across Europe.

For more information on the project, please contact Zeljko Jeftic, Head of IRU Projects, or visit the project website.

Second issue of the smartCEM Newsletter

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:45:42 +0100

The second edition of the European project smartCEM is now available!

Cubic Transportation Systems Acquires NextBus, Inc.

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 11:08:02 +0100

Cubic Transportation Systems Acquires NextBus, Inc., Leader in Real-Time Passenger Information Solutions

Acquisition accelerates worldwide expansion opportunities for NextBus and extends Cubic's portfolio of information-based solutions

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - January 24, 2013 - Cubic Transportation Systems, a leading integrator of payment and information technology and services for intelligent travel solutions, today announced it has acquired NextBus, Inc., from Webtech Wireless Inc. NextBus is North America's leading provider of real-time passenger information systems (RTPIS) with more than 100 transit agency deployments in the United States and Canada for a total consideration of CAD$20.75 million subject to the terms of the purchase agreement.

Consistent with Cubic’s Nextcity vision, the acquisition extends the company’s portfolio of information-based solutions for its transit industry customers and positions NextBus to accelerate its growth by leveraging Cubic's global presence and customer base.

"Transit agencies and their communities worldwide are racing to utilize information more effectively – optimizing their resources and providing intelligent travel information to their riders," said Steve Shewmaker, president, Cubic Transportation Systems. "Since 1996, NextBus has been a pioneer and a market and technology leader at the forefront of this trend. As part of the Cubic family, NextBus will have the additional resources and capabilities to expand more rapidly while adding further depth to our own Nextcity vision, which emphasizes better utilization of information, wireless communications and mobile devices as key technologies for the future of public transit."

The acquisition broadens Cubic's portfolio of transportation solutions. NextBus’ customers include the major metro systems in Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, Washington DC, and Boston, as well as many well-known small and mid-sized transit agencies, universities and colleges including Chapel Hill Transit, RTC-Washoe (Reno), Saint John Transit, MIT, Georgia Tech, UCLA, University of Maryland, and Rutgers University.

“The NextBus team of highly skilled and experienced operational and technical experts will become part of Cubic Transportation Systems, adding to Cubic’s current knowledge base and service offerings in real-time intelligent travel information systems and operations,” said Matt Cole, senior vice president, strategy and business development, Cubic Transportation Systems. “We believe there are very exciting possibilities that will attach to the coming together of market-leading fare collection and real-time passenger information technology. This is a significant step towards Nextcity and we look forward to the benefits this acquisition will provide to our business, customers and the traveling public.”

NextBus is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that improves transit passengers’ lives and makes their travel experience better with accurate, real-time arrival information about buses, subways and trains. NextBus also offers travelers a host of other options including a GPS-enabled mobile website for smartphones that instantly recognizes the nearest stops in proximity order and provides real-time arrival information with multiple language capability (English, Spanish and French), and an easy-to-use website compatible with the American Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines. The company also provides a robust set of real-time management and dispatch tools that enable transit operators to effectively manage their systems, and is a real-time transit technology leader, providing the industry's most accurate algorithm for predicting arrival times.

"I want to personally say to our many customers that as we take this exciting step in our growth, we will continue to maintain our strong focus on our customers, our support and their satisfaction with NextBus solutions and services. NextBus and Cubic will work together to ensure that our relationship with you, our customer, will not change," said Michael Smith, general manager of NextBus. "I also want to highlight the positive benefits for both our customers and employees that convinced us to make this move. Cubic’s global presence will enable NextBus to expand geographically and provide our clients with the next generation in advanced traveler information technologies."

About Cubic Transportation Systems

Cubic® Transportation Systems, Inc., is part of Cubic Corporation. Cubic Corporation is the parent company of three major business segments: Defense Systems, Mission Support Services and Transportation Systems. Cubic Defense Systems is a leading provider of realistic combat training systems and defense electronics. Mission Support Services is a leading provider of training, operations, maintenance, technical and other support services for U.S. and allied nations.

Cubic® Transportation Systems, Inc., is a leading integrator of payment and information technology and services for intelligent travel solutions. Cubic delivers integrated solutions that help transport operators manage their operations and services and give passengers choices in the smartest and easiest ways to pay their fares. Cubic specializes in design, development, manufacture, supply, installation, integration, services and information. Services provided by Cubic include on-site management, central systems, operations support, patron support, business support and field services.

Every year, nearly 10 billion rides are taken worldwide using Cubic payment and information systems. Cubic has delivered over 400 projects in 40 major markets on five continents. Active projects include London; Brisbane (Southeast Queensland) region, Australia; New York/New Jersey region; Washington, D.C. /Baltimore/Virginia region; Los Angeles region; San Diego region; San Francisco region; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Chicago; Atlanta region; Miami (South Florida) region; Vancouver and Edmonton, Canada; Sydney (New South Wales), Australia; Germany; and Scandinavia.

For more information about Cubic, see the company’s website at www.cubic.com.

Contacts:

Debra Montner
Montner & Associates
203-226-9290 ext. 12 (office)
203-984-7861 (mobile)

Timothy A. Hill
Director of Corporate Communications
Cubic Corporation
PH: 858-505-2430
Cell: 858-232-2927
timothy.hill@cubic.com

eSafetyAware Grant Application Deadline

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:40:33 +0100

The deadline for applications for esafetyAware grants is 20 February 2013 at 17.00 CET.

Through this initiative, eSafetyAware would like to encourage companies and organisations to submit concrete project proposals which promote the development and deployment of vehicle safety technologies through studies, events or campaigns. The eSafetyAware grant is intended to provide 50% co-funding to projects which meets the set requirements, with a maximum grant available per project of €25,000. A total funding of €250,000 will be available for projects.

To read the guidelines and obtain the application form, please download the following documents:

- Guidelines pdf (38.7 KB)

- Application Form doc (66 KB)

Please feel free to forward this information to your members.

For further information, please contact Sara Rodriguez Portugues at: srodriguez@fia.com

New EU Project Supports Intelligent Mobility

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:25:23 +0100

New EU Project Supports Intelligent Mobility

iMobility Support will assist in the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in Europe.

On 24 January 2013, ERTICO - ITS EUROPE launched a new European Union funded project called iMobility Support. The three year project will support the deployment of intelligent mobility in Europe by assisting with the work of the iMobility Forum.

The iMobility Forum is a broad consortium of stakeholders who have an interest in ITS systems and services and works to develop deploy resource-efficient, clean and safe transport systems.

In support of the Forum - the new iMobility Support project builds on eight years experience in support of similar initiatives (iCar Support & eSafety Support) and will assist with important activities such as stakeholder networking, product deployment and communications.

Funding has been provided by the European Commission's Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) and the project will be coordinated by ERTICO - ITS EUROPE together with 6 project partners from across Europe.

The project forms part of the EC's Digital Agenda for Europe by focusing on ICT for transport while contributing to other policy such as the ITS Action Plan and the European Road Safety Action Programme. In addition to this, it actively supports international ITS-related agreements such as the EU-US Declaration of Intent and the EU-Japan Memorandum of Cooperation.

iMobility Support project kick-off meeting. 24 January 2013, Brussels

About the iMobility Support project

Project Timeline: 1 January 2013 - 30 December 2015
Project Budget: € 1,449,000
Funded By: DG CONNECT
Website: www.imobilitysupport.eu (under construction)

Project Partners: AustriaTech - Gesellschaft des Bundes fur Technologiepolitische Massnahmen Gmbh, Fédération International de l’Automobile (FIA), Association des Constructeurs Européen d'Automobiles (ACEA), Teknologian Tutkimuskeskus (VTT) and Q-Free ASA and DEKRA Automobil GmbH

The project can be divided into three pillars:

In the first pillar, iMobility Support actively supports the constituencies and activities of the iMobility Forum. It acts as the secretariat of the iMobility Forum and is the key contact point for the Forum members. It monitors the 23 recommendations and also organises the “concertation” workshops for European projects on ICT for mobility.

In its second pillar, iMobility Support focuses on the main ITS deployment issues faced by the Forum: it monitors the deployment of iMobility priority systems; it encourages the usage of Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) for ITS; it supports ITS standardisation; it identifies certification needs; supports the deployment of eCall system; and supports international collaboration where needed.

In its third pillar, iMobility Support actively promotes the iMobility Forum activities; it maintains an easily recognisable brand with editorial tools; it consolidates and disseminates the Forum results in different forms; it organises the iMobility Awards; and, it contributes to selected ITS events.

The following companies/associations were invited to participate at the project as associate partners: ITS Associations– [Germany, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Portugal, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Slovakia, Italy, Russia], ASECAP - (iMobility Forum Steering Group chair), CLEPA - (iMobility Forum Vulnerable Road Users co chair), CERTH/HIT - (iMobility Forum Vulnerable Road Users co chair), TRL - (iMobility Forum Human Machine Interaction co chair), VTEC/VOLVO - (iMobility Forum Automation co chair).

http://www.ertico.com/new-eu-project-supports-intelligent-mobility/

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ERTICO eMagazine: The USA goes cooperative

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:48:06 +0100

Looking at the current development of cooperative systems in the USA

By Carla Coppola

With a population of 309 million, 841 vehicles for every 1.000 inhabitants and 18,690,000 barrels of oil per day, the USA confirms its status as second most polluting country in the world, after having been the leader until China overtook it in 2007.

According to a study in 2009, traffic congestion in the USA increased by 63% over the past 10 years, costing the country almost $87.2 billion. Despite declining traffic volumes, it's estimated that US citizens waste more than 11,000,000m3 of fuel and 4.2 billion hours annually in traffic jams, equivalent to one full work week per traveller.

***USA Stats***
- 309 million inhabitants - 841 vehicles per 1 000 inhabitants - 32 885 road fatalities in 2010 - 10.6 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants

The US is also in the top 10 of vehicle manufacturers with a total of 8,653,560 units (including 2,966,133 cars) produced in 2011, up 11,5% compared to the previous year. Also General Motors ranked as top vehicle manufacturer globally, with a total of 9,146,340 vehicles (of which 6,867,465 cars) produced in 2011.

Vehicle safety is also a big concern in the USA: in 2010, 32,885 people died in vehicle accidents, nearly 3% fewer than the previous year. These figures remain amongst the highest in the world, per head of population.

No wonder the US Department of Transport (DoT) is looking at new solutions to improve safety, environmental impact and mobility. In 2009, the DoT released its Intelligent Transport Systems Strategic Research Plan covering the period of 2010-2014. The Plan foresees funding of $100million per year and includes research topics such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications for safety; real time data capture and management; and applications for the environment within the AERIS programme (Applications for the Environment: Real-Time Information Synthesis.

With an investment of $1.93 million, the AERIS research programme works on generating and acquiring real-time transport data relevant to the environment and using them to support users and operators in greener transport choices. The AERIS programme is working closely with the V2V and V2I communications research activities to define how connected vehicle data and applications can contribute to mitigating carbon emissions.

Traffic congestion in the USA increased by 63% over the past 10 years

The US DoT priorities seem to align well with those of the European Union. This is why in 2009 the EU - represented by the European Commission DG CONNECT - and the US DoT signed an Implementing Agreement "to develop coordinated research programmes, specifically focusing on cooperative vehicle systems"; followed by a joint declaration of intent on Research Cooperation in Cooperative Systems, published as "International Deployment of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems". The goal behind this document is the harmonisation of standards and data in order to have a smother exchange of information. According to Paul Kompfner, Head of Sector at ERTICO, this is a very important point: "it would be a problem if standards in the two regions were redundant or contradictory ".

Already there are important differences between regions, for example in the allocation and use of radio spectrum. Therefore one of the working groups established by this cooperation aims specifically to harmonise key message sets for cooperative ITS between the USA and Europe: the European CAM (Cooperative Awareness Message), developed by ETSI, and the American BSM (Basic Safety Message). The result of this cooperation was demonstrated last October at the ITS World Congress in Vienna, where two vehicles used a core harmonised safety message to exchange safety information. Why is this important? According to Mr Kompfner, this would benefit vehicle manufacturers as they would be able to supply the same product in different markets. Drivers and travellers would also gain from the universal availability of cooperative ITS applications that worked in the same way for users around the globe.

Harmonisation also leads to improved safety and sustainability. With over 30,000 fatalities in 2010, the USA is collaborating with Europe to harmonise safety applications such as collision avoidance and traffic signal violation warning. The US DoT Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) is focusing its current research on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) safety applications. V2V systems can sense potential threats and hazards - with a 360 degree awareness of the position of other vehicles - and can calculate the risk of a collision, warn the driver in time and take preventive actions to avoid or mitigate crashes. Applications focusing on critical crash scenarios such as emergency brake light warning, blind spot warning, lane change warning, and forward collision warning have already been developed and demonstrated.

Similarly, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications deployment on a minimum level of infrastructure will provide the maximum level of safety and mobility benefits, enabling to reduce risks by 12% that are not considered by V2V communications alone. Therefore V2I communications for safety is a key technology in the DoT's Connected Vehicles Programme. Typical safety applications that could be deployed are related to intersection safety and speed management, including red light violation warning and curve speed warning, alerting the driver to slow down if approaching a curve too fast. But V2I communications can also significantly improve mobility and mitigate environmental impacts by reducing delays and congestion or helping commercial vehicle drivers to identify safe areas for parking.

The EU-USA cooperation is embodied in a joint EU-US Task Force. One of its working groups, on safety applications, is working intensively to harmonise the over-the-air data and communication interfaces; the result should "reduce costs for development of cooperative safety systems and accelerate deployment by enabling the use of common vehicle hardware and firmware in both regions". To support the European input to the joint work, the EU co-funded project COMeSafety2 assists with standards harmonisation, with the definition of cooperative ITS architecture, and with cooperative ITS deployment enablers. COMeSafety2 also assists with a joint forum to exchange tools and methodologies, and with creating common specifications for a set of compatible applications.

If the USA puts much emphasis on safety, the EU invests strongly in sustainability. In the context of cooperative ITS, sustainable systems try to reduce the impact of vehicles on the environment through technologies to influence transport network management and driver behaviour. V2V and V2I systems in particular help to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by informing drivers and traffic managers of traffic jams or incidents at intersections for example. The EU is co-sponsoring development of cooperative systems for more sustainable and efficient transports, e.g. with the project eCoMove. This 3-year project is developing core technologies and applications based on V2V and V2I communications, where a vehicle's eco-relevant data can be shared in real time with other vehicles and traffic networks to support fuel-efficient driving behaviour and traffic management. Together eCoMove and the AERIS research programme underpin the EU-US cooperation in the field of cooperative safety and sustainability applications.

Promoting international cooperation on sustainability, the ECOSTAND project links activities in the European Union, Japan and the United States towards a common assessment methodology to determine the impacts of ITS on energy efficiency and CO2 emissions. This January ECOSTAND organised a webinar asking the simple question: do we still need to worry about emissions? According to Marcia Pincus, AERIS Programme Manager, environment is an important part of connected vehicle research in the USA, where the transport sector accounts for 28% of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and 70% of US oil consumption; light vehicles and heavy trucks are the greatest fuel users with respectively 58% and 19% of the total consumption.

Cooperative systems cooperation has grown deeper and stronger over the past few years

The AERIS research looks at what kind of data from vehicles are relevant for environment applications, and which multimodal applications/strategies are now or potentially available, and finally what are their expected benefits. Lastly but very importantly, the AERIS programme is investigating if there is need of a “Basic Environmental Message” similar to the safety message set (BSM-CAM), and how these data can be transmitted effectively, how often, and among which actors, for a sustainability application to be effective.

Cooperative systems cooperation has grown deeper and stronger over the past few years, but what is coming next? According to Mr Kompfner, the next step will be a focus on deployment; "some applications and technologies are already available; the European project FREILOT for instance is a pilot deployment of a cooperative traffic signal priority system for heavy lorries, in order to reduce emissions". Japan, as Mr Kompfner explains, is quite advanced; thanks to the "ITS Spot" programme, where 1,600 cooperative ITS roadside units have been installed on motorways over the country to cover high risk areas. These ITS spots communicate to the car navigation system information about traffic congestion or warnings of crashed vehicles blocking a blind curve, to warn the driver in advance and reduce collisions. A concrete example of the achievements of ITS Spot programme is the drastic reduction by 60% of collisions at the Sangubashi Curve in Tokyo.

The USA is currently running a pre-deployment pilot of these services at intersections. In August 2012, the DoT announced the first test of connected vehicle technology in a real environment in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The test site uses 3,000 cars, trucks and buses equipped with wireless communications devices that communicate to each other and to the infrastructure. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) has equipped vehicles driving every day on streets and highways with devices that allow to send, receive and translate data as well as warning other equipped vehicles of hazards and threats. This year in May, UMTRI will also organise the first annual Global Symposium on Connected Vehicles and Infrastructure. The symposium will look at the progresses in connectivity between road users and road infrastructure (V2I). All modes of transport (including cars, freight vehicles, motorcycles) as well as vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists) and intersecting modes (e.g. rail) will be incorporated.

What seemed once to be an engineer’s fantasy is slowly becoming real, and the safety pilot in Ann Arbor represents the largest demonstration of the connected mobility of the future.


European projects working on international cooperation V2V and V2I communications harmonisation of standards: COMeSafety2 V2V and V2I safety applications: DRIVE C2X and COMPASS4D V2V and V2I energy efficiency application: ECOMOVE ITS for Energy Efficiency: ECOSTAND project Real time traffic information: TISA

ERTICO eMagazine: A Review of 2012

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:08:20 +0100

2013 is finally here!

After weeks of festive fun, holidays and New Year celebrations, Europe returned to work this month, and despite the fresh snow that has fallen across the continent, 2013 looks set to be a bright year for the ITS community.

ERTICO Staff, December 2012

Here at ERTICO, we will be working on a number of new and exciting projects and we also expect to see many new ITS systems make the transition from R&D to become real-life products. In fact, this is such an important trend that it is the main focus of the 2013 European ITS Congress and we hope that many of you will be able to attend in June in Dublin.

However, before we explore the year ahead we thought it would be a good time to review the successes we have had over the past twelve months. What projects were completed in 2012? And what has ERTICO achieved its vision of bringing intelligence into mobility for people and goods?

Here are just a few of the highlights:

In June, the euroFOT consortium held its final event and presented the findings of a four-year study focused on the impact of driver assistance systems in Europe. The EUR 22 million European Field Operational Test (euroFOT) project began in June 2008 and involved 28 organisations including car manufacturers, automotive suppliers, research institues and other European stakeholders. The study looked at existing driver-assistance technologies in cars and trucks and their potential to both enhance safety and reduce environmental impact on European roads. The euroFOT project revealed a link between these systems and improvements in driver behaviour, fuel efficiency and traffic safety, as well as overall cost savings.

In September the FREILOT project came to an end having evaluated the benefits of five urban freight ITS solutions. The project was a huge success and made significant contributions to the commercialisation of the first 'cooperative road-side unit' in Europe. Working with pilot sites in four EU countries, FREILOT assessed energy efficient intersection controls, adaptive speed and acceleration controls, eco-driving support and real-time loading/delivery space booking.

FREILOT evaluated the benefits of five urban freight ITS solutions

The first International HeERO Conference on eCall took place in Zagreb on 15 November presenting the intermediate results of the HeERO (Harmonised eCall European Pilot) project. The eCall system is an extremely high-profile development as it will be mandatory for all new cars sold in the EU from 2015 and the meeting in Croatia allowed participants to focus on the outcomes of interoperability testing projects in nine countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland,Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Sweden). A number of recommendations for implementing eCall at European level were made and the project has been so successful that six additional countries will join the pilot from January 2013 (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey).

Also in November, the iCar Support project finished, ending four years of excellent work in support of the European Commission's iMobility Forum initiative which was one of the pillars of the Intelligent Car Initiative. In its final year, the project hosted the second iMobility Awards ceremony, which was presented by Vice-President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes. It also oversaw ten ITS forum working groups and presented the iMobility Forum to the world at the ITS Congress in Vienna. Between 2008 and 2012 the project has contributed a great deal to the development of safe, smart and clean ICT-based transport technologies, and we are delighted that this work will continue next year via the new iMobility support project.

The international VIAJEO project which focused on urban mobility management, ended successfully with final conferences in each test site (Athens, Sao Paulo, Beijing and Shanghai), and closer to home, two interoperability 'test weeks' were co-organised by ERTICO and ETSI. Each one contributed to the successful testing and validation of the DRIVE C2X reference system for cooperative systems (ETSIG5 standards)

And this is really just the beginning. Many other projects are still underway and the ERTICO Partnership continues to go from strength to strength with nine new partners joining over the year!

Finally, no review of 2012 would be complete without a look at the 19th ITS World Congress in Vienna.

The World ITS Congress in Vienna was a huge success in 2012

The Vienna Congress truly was an outstanding event and proved beyond doubt that people from all around the world are completely committed to ITS. With more than 10,000 participants from 91 countries the 19th ITS World Congress set a new record in the number of participants. In addition to this, more than 3,000 delegates and 195 journalists attended the event - helping to make ITS a real topic in everyday life.

Of the 23 technical demonstrations that took place during the week, eight took place in the real traffic of Vienna, and the Congress was also the first to feature a Ministerial Round Table with a top-class political cast, including Vice-President of the European Commission, Siim Kallas, Efthymios Flourentzos, President of the EU Transport Council, and the German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer.

We have every reason to believe that we can build on this success in 2013 and will work closely with our partners in Ireland and Japan to ensure that the European and World congresses deliver.

Next month we will present a number of new ERTICO projects and explore the year ahead. We hope you will join us.

Ian Bearder.

For further information about ERTICO and the work of the ERTICO Partnership, please visit www.ertico.com or email i.bearder@mail.ertico.com

ERTICO eMagazine: FIA

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:49:47 +0100

Jacob Bangsgaard, Director General, FIA Region I

1. What are the current key focus areas of FIA?

As the governing body of motorsport, the FIA is now preparing for the 2013 racing season which has already got underway with the Rallye Monte-Carlo taking place in mid-January. On the mobility side, the FIA is working hard to promote its Action for Road Safety campaign which has been set up to assist the UN in reaching the goal of saving 5 million lives on the world’s roads in 10 years.

Here in Brussels, the FIA Region I office is a consumer body bringing together 106 Motoring and Touring Clubs and their 36 million members from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. We represent the interests of these members as motorists, public transport users, pedestrians and tourists. Our primary goal is to secure a mobility that is safe, affordable, sustainable and efficient. Of course, priorities in the Middle East and Africa can be different to those in Europe, but the reason the FIA has set up a regional structure is to encourage the exchange of best practices between our Clubs.

At the European level, these goals require political and financial support for the development of appropriate infrastructure, technologies and legal frameworks. FIA Clubs boast a wealth of experience and knowledge in the mobility area, and as such, are well placed to offer the political, technical and practical expertise required from a consumer perspective.

2. Could you explain the advantages that FIA sees for your members in the use of ITS in the future?

Developing the future mobility of our cities in a sustainable manner is one of our members’ top priorities. It is clear that more needs to be done to improve the safety and environment of urban areas. And personally, if you ask me, I would like to live in a safe and clean city. Last year, our 76 European Clubs showed their commitment to this goal by signing a joint declaration calling for more coordinated actions at the European level to deploy ITS as a means of connecting people, infrastructure and services.

Our Clubs recognise that integrated mobility solutions can provide people with choice, flexibility and seamless connectivity. At the same time, the deployment of ITS can also dramatically improve urban safety, for example through the use of local danger warnings and collision avoidance systems. This is of real importance to our Clubs and their members.

Important for consumer uptake of ITS is education. FIA Clubs are committed to informing motorists on available ITS options including through demonstrations, studies and courses. They are also engaged in the benchmarking activities to identify users’ acceptance of ITS for urban mobility.

The main discussion now is on how sustainable urban mobility can be achieved and how the different modes of transport can work together to provide the best mobility solutions for citizens. I do not believe that a sustainable solution would be found through access restrictions and charging, as this would only make everyone’s life more complicated in the city when commuting. We need to focus on developing intelligent solutions, taking into account individual mobility needs in a sustainable way.

3. Can you tell us more about the iMobility Challenge initiative and what you are trying to demonstrate with it?

iMobility Challenge is the successor to the eSafety Challenge project which focused on the promotion of new eSafety ITS systems. The iMobility Challenge on the other hand will be primarily focus on ITS for efficient mobility. But the overall goal will be to demonstrate to the public the benefits of clean, efficient and safe mobility solutions made possible by ITS.

Intelligent vehicle systems for energy efficiency such as gear shift indicators, tire pressure monitoring systems or start-stop systems are increasingly available, but cooperative systems and connected cars are also just around the corner. Such systems will completely transform the way vehicles interact with their surroundings, so we want consumers to understand the potential benefits to them and embrace such innovations. By utilising the FIA’s network of celebrity motorsport drivers, and by hosting large-scale demonstration events which also give the public the opportunity to test drive new systems, we hope to bring innovations closer to the consumer.

The FIA is leading the coordination of the project, which has a budget of €1.5m running over two years, working with partners ACEA, CLEPA, ERTICO and VTT. Studies documenting the socioeconomic impact and benefits of ITS systems are also included in the project’s remit. Our first event took place before the annual FIA prize giving ceremony in December of last year in Istanbul where the winners of this year’s GT1, WEC, WRC, and WTCC competitions took part in an informal ecodriving race in which GT champions Marc Basseng and Marcus Winkelhock proved to be the most efficient drivers. It was great fun to get the fastest FIA champions competing for a whole new way of driving compared to how they usually drive during races. We have a number of events planned for 2013 across Europe. We plan to be at the International Transport Forum in Leipzig and the European ITS Congress in Dublin.

4. FIA Region I represents the interests of European automotive member clubs with the European Union institutions. What policy or political issues do you think should be addressed or supported in terms of road safety, consumer protection, environmental protection and the promotion of sustainable motoring?

At the European level, we are generally supportive of the direction the European Commission is taking to promote mobility in a sustainable manner for all. One of the big discussions at the moment in Parliament and Council is on proposed tighter limits for CO2 emissions for cars and vans. Although we have expressed our concern about the accuracy of the current testing procedure, we are supportive of the new targets as a means of both saving money for consumers in terms of fuel costs, and also of improving the environment. We are therefore closely monitoring the decision making process to ensure that the 95 g target is not excessively weakened with flexibilities and brings about the expected benefits to the majority of consumers.

One of our key issues of concern is ensuring the mandatory introduction of the eCall system by 2015 on the basis of an open platform and open competition between different service providers. The European Parliament adopted a report last year supporting the implementation of eCall in such terms, and it’s now the European Commission’s turn to introduce legislation which will ensure that the emergency service infrastructure of Member States is ready for 2015. An eCall in-vehicle system which is accessible free of charge and without discrimination to all stakeholders - providers of car aftermarket products and services, equipment suppliers, repair shops and independent service providers, roadside assistance and related services - will save thousands of lives while also bringing a range of new telematics services to consumers.

Other issues which we will be following closely in the coming months include the proposals put forward in the roadworthiness package, an expected new proposal on air passenger rights, and the right of road patrols to get standardised access to repair and maintenance information in the future – an ongoing issue which is of real importance to our Clubs and their members.

About FIA Region I

Founded in 1904, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) brings together leading national motoring organisations from 132 countries worldwide and is the governing body for world motor sport.

The FIA Region I office, based in Brussels, is a consumer body representing 106 Motoring and Touring Clubs and their 36 million members from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The office aims to provide strong representation of European Member Club interests towards the European Union institutions; to build up links and support the exchange of best practices across the region; and to engage in new campaign activities such as the FIA Action for Road Safety campaign.

Key priorities for FIA Region I

> Mobility: Supporting efficient and affordable mobility for all.
> Safety: Promoting 5-star drivers, in 5-star cars on 5-star roads.
> Environment: Offering intelligent mobility solutions for sustainable transport.
> Consumer Protection: Defending consumers’ interests.
> Tourism: Ensuring sustainable tourism and protecting passengers’ rights.

For more information about FIA, please visit www.fiaregion1.com

ERTICO eMagazine: eCall Expands

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:34:49 +0100

The pan-European eCall project notched up another success in December, with the opening of a new eCall testing centre in Japan. Launched in the city of Yokosuka it is the first eCall test facility outside Europe and will allow Japanese car makers to test systems destined for the European Union.

Designed to reduce emergency response times, the “112” eCall service is a pan-European, interoperable M2M system that allows vehicles (and passengers) to automatically call for help in the case of a road incident.

The centre was launched by Gemalto, and Fujitsu Ten in collaboration with Yokosuka Telecom Research Park.

ERTICO's Andy Rooke (HeERO Project Coordinator) attended the opening event in December along with Marcel Visser, Vice President of Automotive at Gemalto. Mr Visser said: “By enabling local testing of eCall technology, Gemalto and its partners are streamlining manufacturing and helping global automakers achieve significant time and cost efficiencies,”

For more information about eCall please visit the HeERO project website

APPLUS+ IDIADA to develop electric supercar

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:27:01 +0100

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION CHOOSES APPLUS+ IDIADA TO DEVELOP AN ELECTRIC SUPERCAR

The project aims to show that electric vehicles are capable of high performance

A company specialising in the provision of design, engineering, testing and homologation services has been chosen by the European Commission to develop an electric high-performance sports car, comparable to or even better than sports cars with conventional engines.

The prototype should help overcome the current technological and social barriers of electric cars and promote acceptance of electric vehicle technology by the public and the mass introduction of this type of vehicle into our society.

Applus + IDIADA, a division of Applus + specialised in engineering for the automotive industry, has been awarded the project by the European Commission, winning an international tender call in which companies across Europe took part. The contract entrusts the company with the technological challenge of developing the car in record time –by December this year.

Excellence in electric vehicles

A leader in designing, testing, engineering and homologation for the international automotive industry, Applus+ IDIADA has in recent years made a major commitment to acquiring electric vehicle know-how. The company’s Electric Vehicle Centre of Excellence, with 1400 highly-qualified technicians and engineers, is therefore one of the main sources of technological expertise regarding the vehicles of the future.

Fernando Basabe, CEO of Applus +, said that “the award of the project by the European Commission is firstly a recognition not only of the leadership of Applus+ IDIADA in electric vehicles, but also of the entire career of one of the main assets of European automotive engineering”. Carles Grasas, Executive Vice President of Applus + IDIADA, added that “the electric car is expected to have a growing share in the European vehicle fleet and, thanks to political leadership, the involvement of private companies and the efforts of engineers we will overcome the limitations that still affect this technology.”

Volar-e

The car under development, named Volar-e, will have a performance equal to that of the greatest contemporary sports cars: a top speed of 305 kilometres per hour and acceleration from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in less than 3.5 seconds. The vehicle, whose body is made of lightweight carbon fibre, will also carry the latest battery and charging technology. An advanced chassis control system will control the unique 4 Wheel Drive system and recover the most energy through the regenerative braking system. It will also incorporate the latest developments in vehicle/vehicle and vehicle/infrastructure communication systems, as well as a user interface based on new applications designed for current and future smartphones.

RACC to showcase world's most powerful electric car

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:16:35 +0100

The Royal Automobile Club of Catalonia (RACC) has been selected by the European Commission DG Enterprise and Industry, to lead the organisation of a public event to showcase the most innovative electric vehicle technologies.

Among 20 other bidders, the RACC was chosen, along with Applus Idiada, to develop, build and present a competition electric vehicle in Barcelona (Spain).

The DG Enterprise and Industry is committed to support the deployment of the electric vehicle, and thus has decided to overcome the existing barriers related to consumer prejudices against the electric vehicle. This prejudices have a lot to do with vehicle power, its speed, charging times and range between charges, and therefore the EC has decided to face this issues by publicly demonstrating how innovative electric vehicles can be and to what extent can they fulfil to most demanding needs from users.

The showcase of this vehicle has been awarded to the RACC, which has developed a long experience in demonstration projects related to vehicle technology and is regarded to be an independent and trustworthy motoring association.

The RACC has planned two events in March 2013 to showcase this vehicle that has been named as VOLAR-E:

1. The first event will be held at the F1 track “Circuit de Catalunya”, and will be dedicated to VIP invited representatives from the automotive industry, tier-1 suppliers, utilities, public administrations, charging infrastructure companies, and entrepreneurs of the electro mobility ecosystem.

2. The second event will be open to all public and will take place in the streets of Barcelona, where thousands of consumers and future electric vehicle buyers will witness the capabilities of the competition electric vehicle, and will also enjoy an exhibition of many other electric vehicles.

Smart charging for electric vehicles

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:30:35 +0100

Connecting electric vehicles (EVs) to the power grid over mobile networks makes charging easy and efficient. The controlled charging model proposed here by Olle Isaksson and Anders Fagerholt has numerous advantages.

Download the full article as a .pdf file.

Olle Isaksson is Head of Transport & Automotive at Ericsson Global Services, and is leading Ericsson’s global businessdevelopment activities in the transport and vehicle sectors. His focus is on engagements in Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) for all modes of transport. He is also a member of the European Commission’s ITS Advisory Group and the Swedish Government’s ITS Board. He holds an M.Sc. in industrial engineering and management from the Institute of Technology at Linköping University.

(olle.isaksson@ericsson.com)

Anders Fagerholt is part of the Ericsson global Automotive and Transport team. After many years of working with radar and radio, his focus has been on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) since 2007. He represents Ericsson in ERTICO – ITS Europe and is on the board of Telematics Valley.

(anders.fagerholt@ericsson.com)

Gemalto, Yokosuka Telecom Research Park, Fujitsu Ten and ERTICO launch the first eCall testing centre in Japan

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:41:09 +0100

Gemalto, Yokosuka Telecom Research Park, Fujitsu Ten and ERTICO launch the first eCall testing centre in Japan

On 3 January Gemalto, announced its collaboration with Yokosuka Telecom Research Park, Inc. (YRP), FUJITSU TEN, developer of advanced safety systems, and ERTICO to launch Japan’s first eCall testing facility in order to help global automakers meet the European Union's new emergency response standards. Gemalto will provide its best-in-class Cinterion® Machine-to-Machine (M2M) automotive modules and Machine Identification Modules (MIMs) technologies to enable communications and GPS positioning for all trial scenarios. It is the first eCall facility outside Europe, allowing Japanese automakers to locally test solutions destined for the European Union.

Designed to reduce emergency response time, the “112” eCall service is a pan-European, interoperable M2M system that allows vehicles (and passengers) to automatically call for help in the case of a road incident. The FUJITSU TEN and YRP test bed features In-Vehicle-System (IVS) units that leverage eCall-compliant Gemalto technology already proven successful in Europe and compliant with European test cases. As air bags or other in-vehicle sensors are triggered, a Gemalto automotive grade MIM instantly establishes a secure network connection and a Cinterion automotive M2M module initiates a standardised “112” voice call with the nearest emergency call center. The system automatically sends key situation data, including exact incident location, time stamp, Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and more, to emergency operators who dispatch appropriate services in real time. The solution can be activated manually by passengers when needed. Trials are very much facilitated by this testing center, Japan’s only exclusive eCall 2G cellular network, which simulates European wireless networks.

“Gemalto, an ERTICO Partner, has been instrumental in supporting the YRP test center and enabling pre-deployment of European Union “112” eCall solutions across Europe,” said Hermann Meyer, ERTICO - ITS Europe CEO. “Gemalto’s expertise and advanced technology is helping the entire automotive supply chain meet the requirement to equip all new EU passenger cars and light commercial vehicles with eCall capability by 2015.”

“By enabling local testing of eCall technology, Gemalto and its partners are streamlining manufacturing and helping global automakers achieve significant time and cost efficiencies,” said Marcel Visser, VP Automotive at Gemalto. “Gemalto’s leading-edge modules and MIMs are ISO/TS 16949 certified to help car manufacturers meet strict industry requirements for quality and traceability throughout the life of a vehicle. We are proud of our contribution to road safety, and to people’s daily life using digital security.”

For more information, visit the Gemalto website.

New Deadline: ITS European Congress Call for Papers

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:37:04 +0100

9th ITS European Congress & Exhibition

Dublin, Ireland 4–7 June 2013

ITS: “Real Solutions for Real Needs”

Call for papers: New Deadline 14 January 2013

________________________________________

Discuss the latest developments with 800 delegates during the 90 Congress sessions…

See the cutting edge technology within the exhibition area with 100 companies…

and meet and network with 1800 Europeans at the greatest gathering of ITS specialists,

government and industry representatives from 40 countries!

The Congress is an associated event of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union

________________________________________

This message concerns the deadline for Dublin Papers and Special Interest Session submission.

Dear colleagues,

As you know the current date for paper submission and Special Interest Session proposals was today the 21st December 2012. We have already received many valuable submissions and we thank you for your contribution. This will be taken into account in the selection process. Due to a significant number of requests for an extension of the submission stage, given that the Vienna Congress took place fairly recently, in order to ease pressure in this holidays period, we have decided to set a new deadline for:

14th January 2013

We would like to emphasise that this is the LATEST date for paper submissions and Special Interest Session proposals.

You will be able to use the online system at any time and should do so as soon as your abstract is ready.

The online paper submission system will be accessible during the holiday period.

There are no changes to the associated dates for paper reviews (deadline 13 February) and authors will be given the decision on full or provisional acceptance no later than 28 February.

Please submit your Paper here and your Special Interest Session here.

Detailed submission guidelines are available on the website www.itsineurope.com

The Exhibition and Sponsoring opportunities brochure is available here.

For any questions concerning the online submission, please contact: Ms Pamela Valente.

For further details on the 9th ITS European Congress & Exhibition, please find the contact details on the Congress website.

We very much look forward to receiving your contribution.

Kind regards,

Vincent Blervaque
Director of Development and Deployment
ERTICO – ITS Europe
Dublin 2013 European Programme
Committee Chair

Paul Bennett
ITS Ireland Representative
Dublin 2013 Host Committee Member
Dublin 2013 European Programme
Committee Vice- Chair

European ITS Congress 2013 – Call for external demonstrations

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:06:30 +0100

Ahead of the 2013 European ITS Congress in Dublin, the application process is now open for entities which are interested in demonstrating their Intelligent Transport Systems and Solutions.

At this stage there are no limits on the number of external demonstration sites, instead all applications will be reviewed and every endeavour will be made to accommodate qualifying demonstrations at a suitable location in the vicinity of the Congress venue.

For more information on the call for demonstrations click here.

The slogan for the ITS 2013 Congress in Dublin is “ITS: Real Solutions for Real Needs” as regions face similar challenges in delivering sustainable transport solutions to meet their current and future mobility requirements.

However, transport authorities often find it difficult to identify detailed information on targeted ITS solutions that would deliver direct and tangible positive outcomes.

That is why the ITS 2013 Congress will primarily focus on ITS solutions that are driven by policy as opposed to being technology-led. The emphasis will be on proven deployed solutions and innovative R&D that is focused on solving real problems and delivering value for money in today’s challenging economic environment.

Priority will be given to demonstrations that focus on delivered ITS solutions (or those in advanced state of development) that address real mobility issues that regions/cities/towns/ authorities face on a day-to-day basis.

Connected car services come to market with Volvo Car Group and Ericsson

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:41:07 +0100

Volvo Car Group will use Ericsson's (NASDAQ: ERIC) Connected Vehicle Cloud in order to allow drivers, passengers and the car to connect to services available in the cloud.

Drivers and passengers will be able to access applications for information, navigation, and entertainment from a screen in the car. At the same time, Volvo Cars will be able to open parts of the platform to other players in the eco-system of the automotive industry.

Content providers will have agreements with Volvo and the other members of the ecosystem, like internet radio providers, road authorities, cities' governments, toll-road operators and others.

Lex Kerssemakers, Senior Vice President Product Strategy and Vehicle Line Management at Volvo Cars, says: "We clearly see that cars in the near future will integrate the same level of digital services that consumers today are used to have in their homes or at work. This is a strategically important part of Volvo's investments for the future where we intend to take a leading position."

The partnership calls for Ericsson to perform systems integration of the solution with Volvo Car Group IS/IT environments and in-vehicle systems. Ericsson will also provide managed services for a global cloud solution with a secure connection between the vehicle and all players in the value chain and in the ecosystem.

Kerssemakers continues: "Ericsson is a perfect partner for Volvo Car Group, bringing extensive experience and global business acumen to the table. On top of this both companies share the same ambition to develop industry leading solutions in line with our shared vision of the future based on a networked society."

Per Borgklint, Head of Business Unit Support Systems, Ericsson, says: "This partnership is evidence of the transformation across our entire society as we move into the Networked Society. Drivers want services that technology makes possible, in real time and in the context that fits them personally. Our skills in System Integration and Service Enablement will match Volvo's strategy."

Volvo's expertise in driver behavior and traffic safety measurements, along with Ericsson's consulting, system integration and managed services expertise from mobile communication solutions, will be used to define and select future services to be supported by the platform, keeping in mind the driver's priority on the traffic situation.

Ericsson Connected Vehicle Cloud targets the existing and future demands on scalability, security and flexibility in the global automotive industry.

Bev Marks receives the TISA Fellowship Award at the Committees Meetings in Bordeaux

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:17:40 +0100

On 11 and 12 December 2012, TISA Committees met in Bordeaux for the last meetings of the year. Hosted by the CUB (Communauté Urbaine de Bordeaux), representatives from the TISA Membership discussed the latest developments in the Content and Service Provision and Products Committees.

Christine Buisson from IFSTAR gave a presentation on traffic management plans and on the advantages and limitations of “travel times” based approaches.

François Fisher, Project Manager at ERTICO, presented the ERTICO/TISA vision on conformity testing and certification after TISA and ERTICO organised the first Testfest on TPEG in Munich in September where a series of interoperability test cases were undertaken. The second TPEG Testfest will be organised in May 2013 in Munich again.

After the meeting, the TISA delegation visited the Bordeaux Traffic Centre (the CIGT – Centre d'Ingénierie et de Gestion du Trafic) that monitors over 30 events per day (including serious ones such as crashes). The data collected by the centre comes from the police (40% of the information), video equipment of the road (20%) and road users/emergency call (40%). As soon as an accident happens, the centre reacts with three steps: the collection of data ; the provision of real-time traffic information to road users; and finally the management of security, taking correct measures according to the gravity of the situation. The whole process takes between 2 and 5 minutes maximum.

On the way to the social dinner, Jean-Philippe Mechin from the CETE Sud Ouest (a subsidiary of the French Ministries of Ecology, Development & Durable Installations and the one of Housing & City) gave some general information about Bordeaux which will host the 15th ITS World Congress in 2015, assuring members that it will be a successful event thanks to the region’s advanced traffic technologies.

The social dinner was also a way to thank the retiring Executive Director of TISA - Bev Marks, for his dedication to the association and to greet Matthias Unbehaun as new Executive Director as of January 2013. On this very special occasion, Mr Marks received the TISA Fellowship Award from Thomas Kusche, President of TISA, for his support and hard work over the years. In his speech Mr Kusche said: "No wonder that TISA tried to keep Bev after his Executive Director’s career with all his knowledge. Therefore I am happy to announce that we secured his experience in a one-year limited position as Special Advisor Standardisation Processes. It calms me to see TISA with such an excellent representation in a decisive phase of many standardisation processes". Mr Kusche added, "Some people may see that kind of continuity in employment as a proof of trust and distinction. But the TISA Steering Board was convinced, that this is not enough in light of all that Bev has done for TISA and the market. TISA has an opportunity to decorate most deserving people in an outstanding way. And you won’t be surprised that it was an unanimous decision to offer Mr Bev Marks today the TISA Fellowship".

In receiving the award, Mr Marks said: "I will do my best to support TISA through my fellowship It's a huge honour and having this fellowship will give me the opportunity to meet you again".

MEPs back "Connecting Europe Facility" to invest in Trans-European networks

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:24:30 +0100

Rules on how the EU's "Connecting Europe Facility" (CEF), is to fund infrastructure projects of common interest for trans-European transport, energy and telecoms networks were approved in a joint vote by the Transport and Industry committees today.

Transport infrastructure projects to complete EU's core network

Three-fifths of future CEF funding is earmarked to develop modern, sustainable, safe and high performance trans-European transport networks. Designed to carry forecast future traffic flows, they aim to improve the EU's overall competitiveness, reduce transport's carbon footprint and boost the single market by optimising the interoperability of various transport modes. Ports, logistics platforms and "motorways of the sea" will form and integral part of the network.

Projects will be selected annually, on criteria that include maturity and EU added value, with a special view to removing bottlenecks and bridging missing links, particularly on cross-border sections.

Cohesion money for transport infrastructure to stay with cohesion countries

One third of this money - €10 billion according to the Commission's MFF proposal - is to be transferred from the EU Cohesion Fund to be spent in line with the CEF regulation, exclusively in member states eligible for cohesion funding.

As of 1 January 2017, any cohesion money transferred to the CEF which has not been committed to a transport infrastructure project, would have to be made available for all member states eligible for cohesion funding to use to finance transport infrastructure projects that meet the CEF criteria. But until December 2016, the selection of projects must respect national allocations from the Cohesion Fund.

Energy

The CEF would support common interest projects help to ensure that no member state is isolated or dependent on a single energy source, enhance security of supply and contribute to sustainable development.

Contrary to the Commission proposal, MEPs insist that projects should be funded primarily by financial instruments. They stress that grants should go only to actions which "according to the project's business plan and other assessments carried out, notably by potential investors, creditors or the national regulatory authority are not commercially viable and for which a financial instrument would not be sufficient to lead to a positive investment decision".

Telecommunications

The CEF would support common interest projects that generate demand for broadband services and accelerate the deployment of fast and ultrafast broadband networks at speeds of 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps and above.

Projects promoting the interconnection of public services on-line (e.g. cross-border platforms for public administration, culture, education, research and health) would also be eligible for EU funding. EU financial support for telecommunications projects would in most cases rely on financial instruments.

Next steps

The Transport and Industry committees adopted the legislative resolution with 81 votes in favour, 8 against and 5 abstentions. They mandated Parliament's negotiating team to open talks with the Council in order to find a first reading agreement, and decided to schedule a plenary vote only thereafter.

Source: European Parliament

European transport stakeholders call for preservation of Horizon 2020 budget

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:36:55 +0100

European transport research actors call for the Horizon 2020 budget for “Smart, Green and Integrated Transport” to be maintained at the €7.69bn level proposed by the European Commission

Brussels, 17 December 2012 - European associations representing industry, research providers, academia, infrastructure, operators and users in the road, rail, air and waterborne transport sectors combine their voices to call for an appropriate budget share for transport research in the future Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. Transport is the backbone of the European economy, being fundamental to the four freedoms of the European Union, and underpins social interaction and development throughout the Member States.

Research in mobility and transport therefore represents a prerequisite for European progress as well as a key contributor to meeting future societal, environmental and economic challenges. European transport research actors therefore regret the recent vote in the European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee to reduce the budget share of Horizon 2020 dedicated to “Smart, Green and Integrated Transport” by approximately 20%. We call on the European Parliament and the EU Member States to aim for an agreement on Horizon 2020 which maintains the share of the Horizon 2020 budget for Transport at €7.69 billion. At the same time we call on EU Member States to agree to maintain the European Commission’s proposed budget for Horizon 2020 in the Multi-Annual Financial Framework - €80 billion over seven years.

Contact the supporting organisations
EUCAR – European Council for Automotive R&D
EARPA - European Automotive Research Partners Association
CLEPA – European Association of Automotive Suppliers
FEHRL – Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories
ECTRI – European Conference of Transport Research Institutes
WATERBORNE Technology Platform
ERTRAC – European Road Transport Research Advisory Council
EURNEX - the European rail Research Network of Excellence
CER – The Community of European Railways
UIC – International Union of Railways
UIP – International Union of Wagon Keepers
UNIFE – The European Rail Industry
ERTICO – ITS Europe
ECSA - Ships & Maritime Equipment Association
SEA Europe - Ships & Maritime Equipment Association
POLIS - European Cities and Regions Networking for Innovative Transport Solutions
EAPA - European Asphalt Pavement Association
ACEM - The Motorcycle Industry in Europe
EREA - the association of European Research Establishments in Aeronautics
ASD – AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe
ERF – European Union Road Federation

Second issue of the ECOeffect Magazine now published

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:45:47 +0100

ECOeffect is a high-quality eco-driving programme combining the latest technology, advanced training techniques and safety behaviour specifically designed for the road transport sector. This programme includes techniques, training and monitoring tools for the most efficient fuel cost reduction across Europe. It provides knowledge and expertise to any transport operator and training centre interested in eco-driving. With the support of the European Commission it helps to promote the integration of an eco-driving training module into professional driver qualification and certification.

For more information, visit the ECOeffect website.

The Road to Rio

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:01:13 +0100

Written by Ian Bearder

On 12 August 2012 the world watched as 600,000 lights illuminated London’s Olympic stadium to mark the end of the 2012 Olympic Games. Standing on stage in front of 80,000 spectators and a global TV audience - Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, Eduardo Paes accepted the Olympic flag on behalf of his country, and as he did so he introduced Brazil to the world as hosts of the 2016 games. Two years earlier, South American football fans celebrated news that Brazil would host the 2014 World Cup.

As hosts of two of the world’s largest tournaments Brazil will be thrust into the international limelight over the next four years and has the opportunity to shine as a one of the world’s leading nations, and the accompanying boost in visitor numbers and foreign investment offers Brazil the perfect opportunity to rebuild and modernise its infrastructure and transport network. In fact, if the games are to be a success – there may be no other choice.

Brazil is a large country which has an estimated 1.7 million km of roads, approximately 50,000 km of inland waterways and a 30,000 km rail network, however as home to nearly 200 million people and two of the world’s largest cities (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo) Brazil is no strangers to congestion. More than 21 million people live in Sao Paulo alone and in a single day in 2009, 293 kilometres of traffic are said to have clogged the city’s streets.

Brazil’s place on the BRIC list of emerging economic powers adds additional pressure. According to a 2010 report for The Economist, Brazil ranked fourth in terms of new vehicle registration which had boomed by an enormous 120%! This took place with a population growth of just 11%.

Introducing Intelligent Transport

To cope with this and a swell in cargo traffic Brazilian authorities and city planners will need to beincredibly creative if they want to keep the country’s goods, people and economy moving when hundreds of thousands of sports fans descend on their cities.

This offers a huge opportunity for the ITS industry and this is a fact that hasn’t been missed by Brazil’s international partners such as the USA and the EU. In March 2011 the US and Brazil signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ to support the organisation of major global sporting events, and in April the same year the US Commercial Service presented a report on ‘Opportunities for US companies in the Brazilian ITS Market’. Meanwhile the EU has been developing joint transport projects in Brazil as part of its Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). One of these, Viajeo has promoted EU-Brazil cooperation on sustainable transport in partnership with the Brazilian Bureau for Enhancing International Cooperation with the European Union (BB.Bice).

A Viajeo seminar held in April 2011 in São Paulo focused on ITS for large events and electric mobility and João Fernando Gomes de Oliveira, president of Brazil’s Institute for Technological Research (IPT) talked-up the business opportunities that arise from the sporting events. Another EU funded project ‘STADIUM’ may also prove useful. The project is working to improve the performance of transport services and systems during large events by examining the use of ITS applications during three major tournaments; the South African World Cup (2010), the Commonwealth Games (2010), and the London Olympics (2012). Researchers involved in the project are developing an online ITS handbook to support those responsible for organising large scale events and the guide, which is due to be finished in 2013, covers areas such as planning and impact evaluation and reviews of proven ITS systems. It also provides a list of ITS suppliers.

Brazil will also be able to draw on its own ITS experience.

According to Alessandro Santiago dos Santos of Brazil’s Institute for Technological Research (IPT), ITS in Brazil is not as well developed as it is in Europe, but progress is being made.

“Intelligent Transport Systems are not at the forefront of thinking for public managers and decision makers” he says, “but the country already has considerable ITS experience in both highway management and public transport.”

“Brazil began its road concessions programme in 1998 with the transfer of the operational administration and maintenance of highways to private companies under the supervision of a state-owned company. In concession contracts, the use of ITS is mandatory and critical to maintaining the quality of services for citizens and cargo”.

With regards to public transport, he says that electronic ticketing systems have played a leading role; "Ticketing in Brazil is characterised by the predominance of contactless card solutions. Furthermore, over 77% of cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants have electronic ticketing mechanisms. The introduction of automation and the remarkable growth in the collection of fares was driven by the need to control benefits (discounts or exemptions), which currently amount to more than half of the users in most of the cities”.

He says the industry will also benefit from a new law that requires all cities with over 200 thousand inhabitants to develop a "plan for urban mobility", which must be integrated and compatible with their master plans of the city. In addition to this, a ‘Sustainable Brazil’ initiative has promised to invest $ 2 billion in the development of innovative products, processes and services linked to the concept of sustainability.

No time to lose

How authorities meet these challenges and the final strategy used to develop Brazil’s transport network and manage the games remains to be seen, yet work is already well underway. Eleven new Operational Control Centres are being built in the World Cup host cities and they will integrate the management of traffic with the operation of public transport, the emergency services and public security services.

Nine of the twelve World Cup host cities are also building Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lanes and in four cities including São Paulo and Brasília the government is financing light rail systems such as monorails and trams. In 2011, São Paulo State’s Secretary for metropolitan transport predicted that by 2013 twelve rail lines would be under construction in his city and promised that the subway network would have grown by 80 km by 2014. “We are moving at Chinese speed” he said.

If this is true and if Brazil’s new transport systems are a success then the games could offer a real vision for the future of movement. As Angel Landabaso, the Science and Technology Counsellor of the European Commission in Brazil once noted: “If we find a solution for São Paulo, which is top on the world’s cities’ list on transports’ problems, we will find a solution for the whole world”.

About CONTRAN 245

Brazil’s CONTRAN 245 resolution requires all new vehicles—trucks, cars and motorcycles—to be fitted with an antitheft tracking device. The legislation, which aims to tackle vehicle theft and reduce sky-high insurance costs, was almost dropped because of privacy concerns. However, as the law is implemented, Brazil is set to become a huge ITS market with many suppliers exploring ways to deliver additional location-based services.

An extraordinary story: Bev Marks and his adventures

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 13:51:11 +0100

From the BBC to TISA, from RDS (Radio Data System) to TPEG (Transport Protocol Experts Group)

Written by Carla Coppola

In 1922 the American inventor Thomas Edison stated that "the radio craze will die out in time". Almost a century has passed by and here we are, talking about TISA, the Traveller Information Services Association whose work floats on the radio frequencies, and about a man, Bev Marks, who spent more than 40 years working in broadcasting, first at the BBC, as a broadcast engineer, secondly at the European Broadcast Union, as an engineering consultant, and then at TISA (Mr Marks will be retiring this year). Something went definitely wrong in Edison predictions...

Appointed TISA Executive Director in 2010, Mr Marks has seen TISA growing up to 106 members worldwide including car manufacturers, terminal client device manufacturers, public authorities, broadcasters, and service and content providers. And of course he was an integrating part of and celebrated many of the associations' achievements.

Under the Marks' leadership, TISA published three position papers; one on international standards in support of the European ITS Directive 2010/40/EU, an ERTICO-joint one on Traffic and Travel Information (TTI) services and a most recent one on the provision of a free minimum universal traffic information service.

Bev Marks has been so much involved in TISA work that one could say that his achievements in the past two years are TISA achievements. But let's proceed in order.

Founded in 2007, TISA has taken over the activities carried out by the TMC Forum, the TPEG Forum and the German Mobile.Info project with the scope to support standards that provide a framework for services and products covering traffic and travel information. Since its creation, TISA has grown to over 100 Members in 28 countries including Brazil, China, Russia, the USA and the United Arab Emirates.

In 2011, during the ITS European Congress in Lyon, former TISA President Jonathan Burr and EasyWay Chairman Ronald Adams acknowledged the cooperation between EasyWay ESG5 group and TISA to work on the interface between DATEX II and TPEG by signing a Memorandum of Understanding. According to TISA Coordinator Amaury Cornelis, "the Lyon event was a landmark for TISA as we had for the first time in 4 years an autonomous stand at a Congress with an end-to-end demonstration on the booth". The same success was repeated a year later in Vienna, this time at a World Congress. In October 2012 TISA signed a Liaison Agreement with GENIVI Alliance with the scope of creating a framework for an exchange of TISA Specifications between the two communities in order to harmonise protocols in the areas of mutual interest. "These agreements are perceived as fundamental for the TISA work as they allow a close cooperation of experts on specific subjects, such as protocols and standards", Stephanie Chaufton, Administrator of TISA, adds.

2012 has been indeed an exciting year for the TISA community; in May, on the occasion of the annual General Assembly in Brussels, the association presented the handbook "TISA 12017 - TPEG What it is all about". This ‘TPEG for dummies’ offers a guideline for professionals to understand concepts and principles of TPEG (Transport Protocol Experts Group) technology specifications and follows "many of the ideas used in a booklet originally produced in 2003 by the TPEG Project, coordinated by the EBU" (as clearly mentioned in the book).

One of the most recent successes of the association was the first TPEG Testfest held in Munich last September. During this event, jointly organised by ERTICO and TISA, a series of interoperability test cases were organised focusing mainly on the implementation of TPEG applications currently defined in TISA Specifications which are soon to become worldwide Standards.

When asking about the birth of TISA in 2007, Michel Reneric, founder and former President of TISA, explains that Bev Marks provided the diplomatic drive behind the establishment of the association. "At the time we had two different associations, the TPEG Forum and the TMC Forum, which were offering the same type of service in providing traffic information. There was a risk of conflict between the two activities based on their different approaches to technology; one analogical (RDS) and one more modern (TPEG)". The greatest merit of Bev Marks, according to Mr Reneric, was to stop this competition and understand both parties and to make them sitting at the same table; "it was a complex and delicate matter because the two associations had to agree on one governance, one statute, one president, one structure. Bev showed great comprehension and sensibility in finding a balance fair to both organisations, but also a strong ability in writing the important funding principles in a unambiguous and fair manner".

This unique capacity to listen to all ideas and to moderate conflicts before their escalation has accompanied Bev Marks also in all his participation in the working groups; "certainly it was not an easy task to put together Englishmen, French, and Germans in the same working group!" Mr Reneric yarns.

This ability to understand the various European cultures is something that belongs to him and that he practiced over his 15 years at the EBU - the European Broadcasting Union - which counts 74 active members varying from Albania to USA.

Michel Reneric has also the merit to have offered Bev Marks the position of Executive Director of TISA at the end of 2009 after Heinz Friedrichs. "It was an obvious decision, taken at the unanimity; after all his efforts and work for TISA, he was the perfect person for this position".

A long term colleague of Bev Marks, Theo Kamalski gives us some historical insights on the early days of Bev Marks work; “Bev is first of all an expert of RDS (Radio Data System) where all started and which paved the way to the TMC and TPEG activities”. Mr Kamalski also explains how the calm (and calming) approach of Bev Marks has been helpful in many occasions, especially in difficult circumstances. "I remember that at the end of a meeting after a difficult discussion on RDS he could come back in the room and say 'Gentlemen can we continue this meeting in my own Battle field?' [Battle is Bev Marks home town]. He has a great sense of humour capable of soothing the most difficult situation". "He is an extraordinary person – Kamalski continues – I have known Bev since 1984, together with Mark Saunders we are the survivors of the RDS expert group at EBU still working for TISA".

Thanks to Theo Kamalski we discovered a quite extraordinary document; "The Marks' Newsletter" produced in 1998 on the occasion of the publication of the book "RDS - The Radio Data System" written by Bev Marks and Dietmar Kopitz. In this unique newsletter Mr Marks names TPEG probably for the first time "during 1998, I have also been working on a new Project for the EBU called TPEG ...This activity takes me to Geneva every month for a week or more".

Thomas Kusche, current President of TISA and long term representative of the WDR (West German Broadcasting) at the Broadcasting Union, has known Bev Marks for over 12 years since Mr Marks time at the EBU.

According to Mr Kusche two words can best describe Bev Marks: expertise and reliability; "it is a joy working with Bev, he is not only an extremely competent person but he has also a feeling of belonging to the organisation he works for, which is difficult to find in many professionals". As said by Mr Kusche, "Bev knows everyone in the industry, if you need some technical advice you can always refer to him as he has been one of the key figures for TPEG". Mr Kusche participated in one of the last TPEG Forum meetings in 2007, before its merge with the TMC Forum into TISA when Mr Marks was still working for the EBU. He states that one of the greatest successes of Bev Marks was to make the commercial aspect and possibilities of TPEG understood and respected by a Union made of public services.

But what do TPEG gurus think about Bev Mark? Martin Dreher, "one of the most knowledgeable experts in the TPEG world", as Amaury Cornelis states, worked on TPEG software development for over 10 years. Mr Dreher first met Bev Marks in Geneva at the TPEG Forum meetings; "I learnt a lot from Bev, he is always very open and supportive in finding a common agreement, he has a great sensibility towards and a deep understanding for people of different nationalities". Mr Dreher worked with Marks in the development of TPEG for long time and explains the importance to establish a universal terminology for traveller information. "Once after a meeting in Geneva we were walking around. At one point I comment on an Ilex (Latin name for Holly) and immediately Bev understood what tree I was referring to, because he is a keen botanist and so we were both using the standard Latin word rather than the English or German ones. This is what TPEG is about – a standardised language for travel information".

Mr Marks has been the originator of the TPEG framework; as Mr Dreher confirms "initially the working group was called "B-TPEG"; Bev has been so much involved in this work that we used to joke that the B was standing for Bev rather than for broadcast!"

Bev Marks appreciation comes from all different parts of the industry; just a few days ago, the TISA Committees Meetings met in Bordeaux for the last meeting of Mr Marks as Executive Director. Mr Marks handed over his mission to Matthias Unbehaun. On that occasion the resigning and designed Executive Directors received an unusual gift from Martin Dreher; the little sparrow of Ulm that inspired the inhabitants of the German city to complete the construction of the cathedral tower. Symbolically, Bev Marks is the sparrow of TISA as he has inspired the TISA community to build its work and to look to the right direction. Matthias Unbehaun, received a sparrow in a cage, ready to be released and to continue to inspire.

Over his career Bev Marks has also been granted with the title of Honorary Member by the RDS Forum, a non-profit international professional industry association that aims to promote and maintain the Radio Data System (RDS) technology, developed by the European Broadcasting Union as an open system to enhance FM broadcasting. As Dietmar Kopitz explains, Bev Marks received his honorary membership for his work in RDS technology as "in the early days of RDS Bev was responsible at the BBC for implementing RDS on the BBC's transmitter networks".

But Mr Marks achievements and honours go way beyond TPEG... a fond hiker, lover of nature and countryside, the man who wears only red socks is also the Chairman of the Battle Ramblers, a walking group and affiliated club to the national Ramblers Association in the UK. Last July, together with some other 200 audacious ramblers, Mr Marks walked for a week, every evening, during the Battle's Big Event.

This is only the latest of Bev Marks successes, many more are to come as many more there will be for the TISA community. Indeed 2013 is going to be a busy year for the association with the next Committees Meetings hosted in Seattle in March and the second Testfest announced in May hosted again in Munich.

The First HeERO International Conference

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 13:18:10 +0100

Showcasing achievements and documenting challenges in the deployment of pan-European eCall

Written by Laura Johnstone

Two years after the launch of the Harmonised eCall European Pilot, the first HeERO International Conference took place in Zagreb on 15 November. Organised by the Croatian National Protection and Rescue Directorate (NPRD), in cooperation with ERTICO – ITS Europe, the European Emergency Number Association (EENA), and Croatian pilot project partners Hrvatski Autoklub and Ericsson Nikola Tesla, the conference attracted almost 200 participants from Europe and around the world. The goal of the conference was to present the common efforts made across the 9 HeERO pilot sites (Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Sweden). As one might expect with such a large scale project there was much to report on, including the results of the first round of national and interoperability eCall testing, the evaluation and validation of standards and specifications established for the eCall service, and dissemination of the results of the project.

Welcoming addresses

The event opened with addresses from two high level speakers; Mr Jadran Pernić, Director of the Croatian NPRD and Ms Olga Sehnalová, Member of the European Parliament and co-rapporteur of the “eCall: a new 112 service for citizens” report.

Earlier in 2012, Ms Sehnalová and her co-rapporteur MEP Dieter-Lebrecht Koch finalised the eCall report with support from both the Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism and Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. In July, a non-binding resolution expressing full support for the implementation of eCall across Europe was approved by an overwhelming majority in the Parliament, demonstrating a clear and strong will for pan-European eCall to be fully implemented in 2015. The resolution calls on the European Commission to table legislation requiring EU Member States to upgrade their emergency response service infrastructure in order to be able to handle eCalls.

In her welcoming address Ms Sehnalová expressed her support for the work done in the HeERO project and praised the close cooperation among all stakeholders involved, before emphasising the importance of the mandatory implementation of the system for citizens across Europe in 2015.

Mr Pernić hailed the hard work of all participants in the Croatian national consortium which has ensured that Croatia is ready for the implementation of eCall and expressed thanks for the strong level of interest in the Conference.

Pilot Test Results

Pilot site leaders were invited to share the results of the first round of testing which took place in 8 of the 9 pilot sites, leading to many positive initial results, and – equally important – the identification of barriers to deployment and issues to be resolved.

The data gathered has been analysed using the 28 HeERO Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The KPIs include the length of time for the call to be established, the length of time for the emergency response centre to receive the minimum set of data (MSD) from the vehicle (this includes key information such as the location of the vehicle, the number of passengers, the force of any impact, etc.), the success rate for the establishment of voice transmissions and the time taken and success rate for the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to be decoded.

Several pilot sites were able to test thousands of eCalls, both manually and automatically generated, and a variety of different scenarios have been tested both in laboratories and on the roads in the real-life environment.

Furthermore, eCall In-Vehicle Systems (IVS) from a range of suppliers have been used in tests, and testing with real, live Public Service Answering Points (PSAPs) has taken place in several countries. As a result of testing several technical issues have been identified, which must be resolved in time for the implementation of the system in 2015. Care must also be taken to ensure that standards developed for the end-to-end eCall system are appropriate and can be adhered to by all parties.

However, the reports given at the Conference show that technical issues are not the main barrier to eCall deployment. All of the problems picked up in the first phase of testing can and will be resolved by the experts in the HeERO project and other stakeholders.

Despite the steps undertaken by the European Commission to make eCall mandatory, and the work of HeERO in proving the effectiveness and reliability of the system, the largest remaining barrier to implementation remains at a political level. Although 22 of the 27 EU Member States have signed the eCall Memorandum of Understanding (in addition to Croatia, Iceland, Switzerland, Norway and Turkey) and work is ongoing to engage the support of the remaining Member States, the necessary PSAP upgrades to support the system are in some cases being delayed by decisions at national level.

Of course this is not the case across the board, but it is evident that a lack of political will in some quarters is slowing progress towards eCall implementation. As eCall legislation is introduced, Member States will have to comply with the regulations; stalling the implementation of the system until then will be of no benefit to citizens.

As a very recent example of European Commission efforts, at the end of November a delegated act was adopted in order to address specifications for PSAPs, and if necessary the Commission will present a proposal to ensure that PSAPs are upgraded as necessary by 2015.

Cross-border interoperability testing

Another key area for testing during 2012 has focused on cross-border interoperability testing. As eCall will be a pan-European system, a key feature is that the driver can take his vehicle anywhere across the continent and in the event of an accident receive the same service as in his home country.

Real environment tests have been carried out using a Czech test vehicle in Germany, in addition to tests between Romania and Croatia and Romania and Italy. In addition, all of the current pilot sites welcome the opportunity for further cross-border testing in the coming year.

Those who attended the ITS World Congress in Vienna this year can’t fail to have noticed the presence of eCall and HeERO at the event. At the HeERO stand live demonstrations took place throughout the week, and the most exciting test was perhaps an ad-hoc experiment which saw the German test vehicle (a remote controlled car in this case!) send an eCall to the Romanian PSAP in Bucharest, the MSD of which could be seen at the ITS Romania stand across the exhibition hall. The success of such a test, which was entirely unplanned, demonstrates both the technological viability of the system and the importance of cooperation between all stakeholders, to ensure that all European drivers can benefit from eCall, however far from home they are. Cross-border interoperability testing is not confined to European Member States. The Finnish pilot site has been working in cooperation with GLONASS Union, the Russian non-profit organisation tasked with implementing the ERA GLONASS system in Russia, on testing interoperability in between the two systems. Along with ITS Russia and GLONASS Union, ERTICO has for the last two years co-chaired the eCall/ERA GLONASS Working Group, which works towards the alignment of ERA GLONASS and eCall, in terms of standards and technical requirements, and also in terms of the schedule for implementation.

Finland, with almost 1,400 km of shared border with Russia, is the ideal place to begin such testing. In 2012, 3 Russian IVS have been tested in Finland, and in 2013, Finnish IVS will be tested in Russia. There are also plans to carry out further testing of the Russian IVS in other countries during 2013. This means that when the eCall and ERA GLONASS systems are launched in 2015, the driver should be able to drive anywhere in Europe and across Russia with access to the two emergency call systems.

Standardisation and Certification

The HeERO International Conference also provided an opportunity to hear an update on the work of the Standardisation Task Force. The task force has met several times throughout 2012 to discuss existing standards and in the context of the results from testing, 25 proposed changes to the standards have been submitted to the standardisation bodies for consideration.

A further success for the Standardisation Task Force this year was the eCall interoperability testing event, which was held in the UK in June. The objective of this three day event was to provide a realistic environment for vendors to test their IVS with different PSAP configurations and vice-versa. Those participating were able to monitor and assess their product throughout the transmission of the eCall, and the results gathered were highly positive.

Looking forward to 2013, plans are in place to set up an eCall certification body, and many stakeholders have already registered their interest.

Public Awareness

Another key element of the HeERO project lies in raising public awareness of eCall and gathering support for its implementation. As the pilot progresses, it is important that citizens understand what eCall is, how it will be of benefit to them, and what they can realistically expect from the service. At the same time, targeted events and initiatives aimed at specific stakeholders in the eCall value chain continue to be of great value.

In close cooperation with EENA, a variety of different events have been organised over the course of the year. From the EU Emergency Services Workshop held in Riga in April, to the Berlin eCall Days in September and the eCall Technical Workshop in the UK in October, culminating with the HeERO International Conference itself.

The HeERO project has also participated in numerous events at both national and international levels, including the FIA Action for Road Safety Day in Prague in June and the ITS World Congress in Vienna in October.

2013 and beyond

The HeERO pilot is a large and multi-faceted project, and 2012 has been an extremely busy year for all those involved. Much momentum has been gained in terms of testing, the development of standards and raising awareness, both amongst key stakeholders and amongst the general public. In 2013 the pace will be stepped up further, as it is not only the final year of the HeERO pilot; it will also be the first year of the HeERO2, the extension of HeERO. HeERO2 will extend the actions of the last two years 6 new countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey and run for two years. Several other associate pilot sites are planned, and the scope of the pilots will be extended to include new technical areas including eCall for large goods vehicles, powered two wheel vehicles and aftermarket devices.

As Mr Andy Rooke, Project Manager at ERTICO and HeERO Project Coordinator concluded: “there is much work still to be done for the implementation of pan-European eCall; however, with the cooperation and the will of all stakeholders involved, we will succeed in making eCall a reality across Europe”.

We look forward to seeing you next year in Bucharest at the second HeERO International Conference!

iMobility Challenge: FIA champions take part in ‘ecodriving’ competition in Turkey

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:26:01 +0100

The winners of this year’s GT1, WEC, WRC, and WTCC competitions took part in an informal ecodriving race before the annual FIA prize giving ceremony on 7 December. Unlike a usual race, the purpose on this occasion was to be the most energy efficient driver. The race was held to promote awareness of the benefits of ecodriving to the public: it has been estimated that ecodriving can lead to 10-15% fuel reductions, and cost savings of more than 300 Euros per year. But not only does ecodriving reduce emissions, it is also considered to be a less stressful, and safer driving style.

The EU-funded iMobility Challenge project (co-ordinated by the FIA) hosted the competition, in the Yildiz public park in Istanbul. Participating drivers included the recently crowned 9-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb. Among the attendees were FIA Club Presidents, Turkish politicians, and the co-hosts, the Turkish Automobile Club TOSFED.

An ENERFY on-board device monitored the energy efficiency of the drivers’ performance, while LeasePlan supported the FIA by providing the vehicle brands of the different series winners (GT1, WRC, WTCC and WEC). FIA President Jean Todt said “Today’s ecodriving competition among outstanding champions demonstrates how we can all use intelligent driving behaviour to be both safer and more efficient”.

The key rules of ecodriving are:

Anticipating the traffic flow
Maintaining a steady speed at low RPM
Shifting gears up early
Checking tyre pressure regularly, and
Refraining from using extra energy by using air conditioning and other electrical equipment wisely

The iMobility Challenge is a European Commission funded project to promote efficient, clean and safe mobility through ICT systems. Intelligent vehicle systems such as gear shift indicators, tire pressure monitoring systems, and start-stop systems which can improve every day driving efficiency are increasingly becoming available, as are ‘cooperative systems’ which provide vehicles with real time information about traffic disruptions and the most efficient routes available.

At the end of the afternoon’s race, the GT champions Marc Basseng and Marcus Winkelhock were declared the 2012 iMobility Challenge ecodriving winners.

For more information, contact Niall Carty.

ITS United Kingdom celebrates 20th birthday

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:10:24 +0200

ITS United Kingdom, the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) society for the UK, has marked twenty years since its foundation in 1992. The occasion was celebrated with a party at the society’s office near the Tower of London. Several people involved in the setting up of ITS UK attended; some of whom are still active Members of the society.

One of them, Professor Eric Sampson MBE of Newcastle University and ITS UK’s Ambassador, said: “Where we have got to after the first 20 years? We are recognised world-wide as the most organised of the many European ITS bodies that are looked after by ERTICO and we fit the expression UK Ministers love of ‘punching above our weight’. “We have, so far, survived the economic downturn quite well suggesting our 160+ member organisations see us as a source of advice, wisdom, contacts, information etc to help them through the recession rather than yet another costs drain contributing to it. We sponsor no fewer than 12 Special Interest Groups and our aim of leading informed and balanced debate on ITS and being the recognised reference point for information on ITS has led to our regularly giving both oral and written evidence to Parliamentary Transport Select Committee inquiries. Not a bad record then!”

Dr John Miles of TAN, a former Director Public Policy at ITS UK, said: “Back in 1992 there were a few of us from DoT (as it was in those days) and TRL who realised that something completely revolutionary was about to happen to road transport. Research going on in Europe, Japan and North America was throwing up some exciting possibilities. I remember that year going to Orlando Florida, not to see Disney World but to drive one of the test cars fitted with a prototype GPS satellite navigation system. It was a field test called TravTek, sponsored by the USDOT. General Motors had fixed up 100 cars with a weird-looking bulbous external GPS antennae, the size of a football, and a computer in the boot to hold the digital map. The idea was to see if the vehicles could operate as traffic probes and report congestion. That autumn you could rent one of these cars from Avis. I was visiting Washington and flew down from to take a trip. I discovered the car could navigate me direct from the airport to my hotel and even out to the space centre at Cape Kennedy, but downtown I needed to use the “hop right” and “hop left” buttons on the steering wheel to correct troublesome map matching errors, for example showing me running along 1st Street instead of 2nd! That way I could hop over a block if the geo-positioning algorithm got it wrong. Back then who could have imagined the small and ubiquitous SatNav product of today? In those day the jargon was Road Transport Informatics and Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems, which is why Susan Harvey (of the soon-to-be-disbanded NEDO) was promoting a trade association called RTI Focus. It was another 2 or 3 years before “Intelligent Transport Systems” emerged globally as the umbrella term for what was happening. Later, in 1999, a name change to ITS UK was called for to fit in with ITS America, ITS Canada, and so on. The rest, as they say, is history”.

For more information, contact Jennie Martin.


Jennie Martin, current Secretary General, and David Clowes, past Secretary General	(Left to right) Dr John Miles, Prof. Phil Blythe, Jennie Martin, David Clowes, Keith Keen

Car Collision Avoidance Technology Could Drive Down Teen Insurance

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 11:44:24 +0100

"Teenage drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents, more likely to die in a crash and motor accidents are a leading cause of death in under 20s."

Could these deaths be reduced?

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at Jerusalem-based Mobileye, makers of in-car collision avoidance systems.

Read the article here

Mobility and Logistics Newsletter

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 11:21:37 +0100

The 25,000th series Cxx0x traffic controller left the Siemens plant in Augsburg in November 2012. The type C940ES, the most modern Siemens controllers in this series, will be used to control the traffic lights at all the crossroads in the Glückstein district of Mannheim. Since 1965 the factory in Augsburg produces with around 70 employees components for traffic and tunnel control systems.

By modernizing the traffic control system, Siemens is making a major contribution toward reducing pollution and increasing traffic safety in the city of Mannheim.

The type C940ES used in Mannheim is specifically designed to meet the requirements for controlling 40-volt LED (light-emitting diode) lighting equipment, which saves up to 90 per cent of the energy consumed by the conventional bulbs previously used. The high safety level of the controllers installed in Mannheim will check changes in the behavior of the LED signals at the extremely rapid rate of 1,000 times per second, and report any conflicting signal states and defective lamps.

Controllers have to be able to meet demands which vary throughout the world. They are therefore specifically adapted to meet an extremely wide range of local infrastructural conditions. More than 200,000 traffic controllers in over 22 countries on three of the world's continents are controlling traffic light phases on a daily basis - safely, reliably and in response to traffic conditions. The devices are designed to work in ambient temperatures from minus 25 degrees to plus 50 degrees Celsius. They are in operation in St. Petersburg, the most northerly city with over one million inhabitants in the world, as well as in the arid desert climate of Abu Dhabi.

Read the original press release here

ERTICO Partners in step for Europe-wide cooperative traffic systems deployment

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 10:20:20 +0100

During the Urban Mobility day at the 19th ITS World Congress in Vienna six major infrastructure suppliers announced their joint work towards a common set of standards for Cooperative Mobility services. These standards are expected to be implemented in their future product. The statement signed by ERTICO Partners IMTECH TRAFFIC & INFRA, Q-FREE, SIEMENS, SWARCO, VIALIS and XEROX in the context of an ERTICO – ITS Europe initiative to speed up deployment, is a first such demonstration by these infrastructure suppliers of their commitment to cooperate for cooperative mobility.

The future of traffic management on urban and inter-urban networks will rely on direct communication and interaction between vehicles and the infrastructure, using new technologies called cooperative intelligent transport systems (or “C-ITS”) that support real-time exchange of traffic data. This cooperation can enable a wide range of applications such as vehicle-sourced data collection, green light and speed advice, automated hazard detection, selective vehicle priority, dynamic city logistics, parking management, virtual signage and multimodal traveller information.

The potential benefits of cooperative ITS are vast, including improved energy efficiency, reduced CO2 emissions and congestion, more effective incident detection and management, and increased road safety. Individual transport users will enjoy easier, more reliable and eco-friendlier travel choices, fleet operators for logistics and public transport will improve quality and cost-effectiveness of services while traffic and road managers will benefit from more complete and timely monitoring of their network, and better tools for traffic control and system-wide optimisation.

Creating the standards needed for C-ITS deployment

The European Commission has issued a Mandate (M453) to European industry and governments to develop a minimum set of standards needed to ensure the functionality and interoperability of these new communication technologies, and enable connected vehicles to communicate intelligently with traffic management and control infrastructure throughout Europe.

This Mandate is directed to ETSI (the European Telecommunication Standards Institute) and CEN (the European Standards Committee), that between them have already published many of the required standards.

The completion of these standards will open the way for a harmonised pan-European deployment of C-ITS in cities and on the highway network, enabling cooperative intelligent roadside systems to communicate with equipped cars, trucks, emergency services and public transport vehicles.

The undersigned companies confirm their willingness to work towards and implement European standards in their C-ITS product and service developments.

Through the joint statement the infrastructure suppliers invite public authorities at national, regional and city levels to work with them to ensure that the respective products and services fulfil their needs and goals concerning interoperability and functionality.

This article was written by Paul Kompfner and Zeljko Jeftic for ERTICO

Huge EC boost for European ITS projects

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:10:52 +0100

European Commission releases almost 1.3 billion Euros for key intrastructure projects including intelligent transport systems

Commission helping to deploy 112 eCall for emergency services

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:59:20 +0100

The European Commission has adopted a measure to ensure that by 2015 your car can call emergency services for you in case of a crash. The Commission wants the life-saving eCall system to be fitted to all new models of cars and light vehicles from 2015. eCall automatically dials Europe's single emergency number 112 in the event of a serious accident and communicates the vehicle's location to the emergency services. According to some estimates, eCall could speed emergency response times by 40% in urban areas and 50% in the countryside, and save up to 2500 lives a year. The measure adopted on 26 November 2012 establish the conditions under which the emergency call response centres will be capable of properly receiving and handling of 112 eCalls.

Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: "These measures are the first adopted under the Intelligent Transport Systems Directive. They address the upgrading of emergency call response centres, to receive and process 112 eCalls, including calls from vehicles registered in any EU country. Together with my colleagues responsible for Digital Agenda and Industry Vice Presidents Neelie Kroes and Antonio Tajani, I will pursue our joint efforts to ensure that by 2015 the introduction of the eCall service in the whole European Union will be effective."

The Commission's aim is for a fully functional eCall service to be in place all over the European Union (as well as Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) by 2015.

The common measures for emergency call response centres (also known as Public Safety Answering Points) will ensure the proper handling of 112 eCalls and the EU-wide interoperability and continuity of the service.

A legislative proposal will follow on the deployment of these measures as well as a proposal for a Regulation to require eCall devices to be fitted to all new models of passenger cars and light vehicles from 2015 in order to obtain EU-wide type approval.

Source: European Commission

COMeSafety2 Newsletter

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:41:52 +0100

COMeSafety2 looks back on some very busy months with important events such as the ITS World Congress 2012 and the 8th International Workshop on Vehicle Communications for Safety and Sustainability. With a very successful EU/US Harmonisation show case at the ITS World Congress and fruitful discussions during the VCSS Workshop, main steps towards fostering the standardisation and harmonisation of C-ITS have been reached.

The project members invite you to learn more about these and further COMeSafety2 activities in the fourth electronic newsletter which has just been uploaded to the COMeSafety2 website.

Commission releases over €1.2 billion to fund key TEN-T projects

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 13:09:53 +0100

The European Commission has launched two Calls for Proposals under the 2012 Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) multi-annual and annual programmes, making €1.265 billion available to finance European transport infrastructure projects in all transport modes – air, rail, road, and maritime/inland waterways – plus logistics and intelligent transport systems, and all EU Member States.

Commission Vice President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: "In making this considerable amount of funding available, the Commission aims for a competitive relaunch of the European economy, to sustain and support growth. By directing this money to TEN-T infrastructure, we are also continuing to help the realisation of the entire TEN-T network – bringing a tangible benefit to all European businesses and citizens who will reap the rewards of a more efficient, sustainable and effective European transport system."

The TEN-T multi-annual programme traditionally finances the highest priorities of the TEN-T network. This year's multi-annual call focuses on six fields with €1.015 billion of total indicative budget available:

The 30 TEN-T Priority Projects: indicative budget €725 million
European Rail Traffic Management Systems (ERTMS), enabling interoperability on the European rail network: indicative budget €100 million
River Information Services (RIS), involving traffic management infrastructure on the inland waterway network: indicative budget €10 million
Air Traffic Management (ATM), implementing the Single European Sky and ATM modernisation objectives: indicative budget €50 million
Motorways of the Sea (MoS) providing viable alternatives for congested roads by shifting freight to sea routes: indicative budget €80 million
Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), including the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS), promoting inter-modality and improvement of the safety and reliability of the network: indicative budget €50 million

The annual programme complements the multi-annual programme and directs funding to four distinct priorities with a total indicative budget of €250 million:

Acceleration/facilitation of the implementation of TEN-T projects (studies and works for mature projects for all modes, as part of the projects of common interest): indicative budget €150 million
Measures to promote innovation and new technologies for transport infrastructure and facilities contributing to decarbonisation or the reduction of external costs in general: indicative budget €40 million
Support to Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and innovative financial instruments: indicative budget €25 million
Support to the long term implementation of the TEN-T, in particular corridors: indicative budget €35 million

The TEN-T Executive Agency (TEN-T EA) manages the technical and financial implementation of the TEN-T programme, under the auspices of Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport. The TEN-T EA is holding an Info Day today 29 November 2012 in Brussels to help potential applicants better understand the call priorities, prepare their proposals and learn about the evaluation process.

The deadline for the submission of proposals is 28 February 2013.

For further information, please click here or contact TEN-T Agency.

iCar Support Newsletter

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:54:54 +0100

In November 2012, iCar Support finalised its activities and gave way to its successor iMobility Support. After three years spent supporting the implementation of actions and recommendations resulting from the work of the iMobility Forum and the Intelligent Car Initiative, iCar Support has come to an end. But it is the closure of a only small chapter of thist long success story, which will carry on as of 1 January 2013 with iMobility Support.

Enjoy the last edition of the iCar Support Newsletter!

Dublin call for papers OPEN: Deadline 21 December 2012

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:59:59 +0100

Call for papers OPEN: Deadline 21 December 2012

Discuss the latest developments with 800 delegates during the 90 Congress sessions…
See the cutting edge technology within the exhibition area with 100 companies…
and meet and network with the 1 800 Europeans greatest gathering of ITS specialists,
government and industry representatives from 50 countries!
The Congress is on the official list of events of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Dear ITS Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to submit a technical/scientific paper or a special session for the 9th European Congress and Exhibition on Intelligent Transport Systems and Services will take place in Dublin, Ireland, 4–7 June 2013.

Please find a link to the Call for Papers which provides you with a first hint of what’s coming up for Dublin, and we would greatly appreciate your support in distributing it within your organisation.

This year Congress theme is ITS: Real Solutions for Real Needs. All regions face similar challenges in delivering sustainable transport solutions to meet their current and future mobility requirements. Transport authorities are aware of the real needs specific to their region but often find it difficult to identify detailed information on targeted ITS solutions that would deliver direct and tangible positive outcomes. The emphasis of Dublin 2013 Congress will be on proven deployed solutions and innovative R&D that is focused on solving real problems and delivering value for money in today’s challenging economic environment.

The European Programme Committee invites ITS experts to submit their contribution to be considered for presentation and publication at the Dublin 2013 Congress.

Detailed submission guidelines are available on the website.

The Exhibition and Sponsoring opportunities brochure is available here.

For any questions concerning the online submission, please contact: Ms Pamela Valente

For further details on the 9th ITS European Congress & Exhibition, please visit the Congress website or contact the organising team.

Looking forward to receive your contribution.

Kind regards,

Vincent Blervaque
Director of Development and Deployment
ERTICO – ITS Europe
Dublin 2013 European Programme
Committee Chair

Paul Bennett
ITS Ireland Representative
Dublin 2013 Host Committee Member
Dublin 2013 European Programme
Committee Vice-Chair

Toyota Belgium launches first in-car DAB traffic information powered by be-mobile and RTBF

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:32:40 +0100

be-mobile fully leverages the power of DAB enabling Toyota Belgium to offer their customers all the advantages of digital audio broadcasting for their in-car navigation systems

On 9 October Toyota, the world’s top vehicle manufacturing company by volume (according to the world motor vehicle production by manufacturer: world ranking of manufacturers 2010. OICA. August 2011), announced that all of their Toyota Land Cruiser V8, Grand Prius+ Lounge version, Prius Solar Premium version cars sold in Belgium will carry traffic information for their in-car systems on DAB, powered by be-mobile and using the RTBF DAB network in French-speaking Belgium (and the VRT DAB network in Flanders).

DAB represents a major industry advancement for real time traffic information; larger traffic data volumes can be processed which in turn ensures more accurate, more detailed and more precise information. DAB also vastly increases the speed at which traffic information is updated. The over-riding advantages to the end customer include:

More accurate flow prediction of arrival/travel times
Real-time mobile radar & traffic alert warnings
Parking advice: closest parking lot, available places etc.
Public transport timetables
Weather updates

In French-speaking Belgium, “DAB/DAB+, the digital radio broadcasting standard of the future, marks a major milestone in the continuing digital revolution,” remarked Francis Goffin Director General of RTBF Radio. “DAB/DAB+ means an enriched (with metadata, text and visuals), enlarged (more stations) and high quality radio offer, which also means high quality traffic information. DAB/DAB+ not only brings phenomenal digital sound quality without interference while driving but also, as be-mobile and Toyota Belgium show, a host of other features which complement the listening experience, such as accurate and precise traffic information directly integrated in the car’s navigation system. As a public service broadcaster, the RTBF is proud that its DAB/DAB+ network can contribute to greater safety on the road”.

Cedric Van Rossum, Sr. Manager for Toyota Belgium, said “teaming up with be-mobile has enabled us to offer next-generation traffic mobility data directly to our in-built car navigation systems. Available as standard in Land Cruiser V8, Grand Prius+ Lounge version and Prius Solar Premium versions sold in Belgium, be-mobile’s service enables safer, cleaner, and more fuel efficient journeys for all of our customers.”

Jan Cools, Founder and CEO of be-mobile added “we are delighted that Toyota, the world’s leading car manufacturer, chose be-mobile to power their new in-car navigation systems on DAB in Belgium”, “this represents further proof of be-mobile’s leading position in terms accurate traffic information data and be-mobile’s commitment to developing traffic information distribution using new technologies such as DAB.”

For more information please contact Emma Connolly.

Time to think about VANET 2.0?

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 16:40:21 +0100

VANETs (Vehicular ad-hoc networks) are getting closer and closer to being a reality in everyday life. This technology, based on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications, allows vehicles to connect through short/medium-range wireless links, thus creating decentralised ad-hoc networks that supports messaging between cars.
VANETs’ messages will carry some standardised data about vehicles (e.g. their positions, headings, speeds…) so to enable innovative on-board services, primarily addressing drivers’ safety and comfort, such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), real-time route optimisation, traffic management in response to actual congestions, travel-related information systems…

Thanks to work by IEEE and ETSI , VANETs will use the correct adaptation of WiFi. As a transmission and medium access technology: IEEE 802.11p is the standard that defines enhancements required to support Intelligent Transportation Systems applications. The reasons for IEEE 802.11p’s success are pretty straightforward: (1) it has essentially the same structure as 802.11 a/b/g/n - hence it is widely known and WiFi intellectual properties can be reused; (2) it intrinsically supports some of the requirements of a MAC protocol for VANETs; more specifically it is decentralised, reactive to topology changes, involves a low protocol overhead, supports priority and prevents blocking states.

Moreover, various international (DRIVE C2X and TeleFOT) and national (SCOREF and simTD) field operational tests (FOTs) have been carried out, successfully demonstrating IEEE 802.11p’s capabilities in real scenarios.

While it is clear that IEEE 802.11p will work and be sufficient tomorrow, there is someone who is already thinking about solutions for the day after tomorrow.

Some recent studies (ETSI TR 102 861: Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS); On the Recommended Parameter Settings for Using STDMA for Cooperative ITS; Access Layer Part and ETSI TR 102 862: Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS); Performance Evaluation of Self-Organising TDMA as Medium Access Control Method Applied to ITS; Access Layer Part) have highlighted that VANETs based on IEEE 802.11p will show a poor performance under heavy congestion and, in presence of obstacles (hence with hidden terminals), with a medium level of congestion. In both cases the determinism (delay, delivery rate, fairness among nodes) drops to unsatisfactory levels, due to a large number of uncoordinated transmissions. These weaknesses will not be dramatic in the first years of the VANET era, since only few nodes will be initially equipped, but indeed new solutions facing these issues must be challenged today.

Since the main threat comes from wireless medium congestion, today two main approaches are being studied by ETSI: Decentralised Congestion Control (DCC) (ETSI TS 102 687 v1.1.1 (2011-07) Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS); Decentralised Congestion Control Mechanisms for Intelligent Transport Systems operating in the 5 GHz range; Access layer part) and alternative MAC solutions.

However DCC is expected to mitigate the problem of protocol congestion but, actually, it has not been extensively studied yet and, moreover, it represents a partial solution, since it does not solve the issue of hidden terminals. Conversely, new MAC solutions are not obvious because they should solve the issues left open by IEEE 802.11p - concerning scalability, determinism and hidden terminals - while preserving its main benefits of and, moreover, with a good backward compatibility with 802.11p (in order to preserve the investments of chipset makers).

Within ETSI STF395, alternative solutions (namely MS-Aloha and STDMA) based on slotted, connection-oriented and decentralised protocols (i.e. TDMA – Time Division Multiple Access) were studied. Slotted protocols are indeed a very promising approach for VANETs: they provide determinism and reliability.

In particular, MS-Aloha (developed and patented by ISMB), solves both the issues of hidden terminals and scalability (by a multi-hop slot allotment) and has already a unique proposal for backward compatibility. ISMB is looking for opportunities to investigate the practical feasibility and answer the question “Might it be the key to VANET 2.0?”.

This article has been written by Francesco Fileppo and Riccardo M. Scopigno - MLW Research Area, Istituto Superiore Mario Boella, Turin (IT)

About Instituto Superiore Mario Boella

Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB – www.ismb.it) is a research & innovation center operating in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) domain. Founded in 2000 by Compagnia di San Paolo and Politecnico di Torino, today ISMB relies on the technological and process competences of around 150 researchers working in close cooperation with companies, academia and Public Administration.

ISMB is organised in Research Areas focused on core sectors of ICT. Satellite navigation systems (Navigation Technologies), wireless sensor networks and pervasive systems (Pervasive Technologies), broadband communications and electromagnetic simulation (Multi-Layer Wireless Solutions), optical fibers (Photonics), cloud computing and applications for mobile devices (Information System Architectures & SW Technologies) and new paradigms for Information Management and Innovation Development.

Since 2010, ten years after its foundation, ISMB has extended its activities to process innovation, orienting its focus on priority themes of the European agenda. Such an evolution aims at exploiting excellences and results obtained by Research Areas into Strategic Programs that are interdisciplinary by nature. Smart Energy, Smart City and Smart Health are the strategic programs tackled by ISMB, representing the first step of a broader action aimed at high-value social projects.

2012 eCall Newsletter published

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:10:21 +0100

iCar Support published the annual eCall Newsletter 2012. In this issue Wolfgang Reinhardt (ACEA) shared his thoughts on the eCall and described what it is needed for the deployment of eCall. From the legislation point of view, the Newsletter highlights the actions taken by the European Parliament and Commission. We also report on the First International HeERO Conference that took place in Zagreb on 15 November. Last but not least, HeERO 2 has been announced and will start in January 2013.

Network of National ITS Associations meetings in Dublin

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 16:28:19 +0100

The Network of National ITS Associations was recently warmly welcomed to Dublin for two days of stimulating meetings, technical visits and discussions. On the first day attendees to the event were given the opportunity to learn about the current status of ITS in Ireland. Presentations included an insight to the next European ITS Congress – ‘Real solutions for real needs’ which will take place in Dublin in June 2013; an in depth look at how Dublin’s Leap card integrated ticketing projects operates; and information on the National Transport Authority’s integrated real-time passenger information and multi-modal planner.

A fascinating visit to the Light rail (LUAS) depot followed, allowing Network members to see ITS in action by visiting the control room and maintenance depot of Dublin’s tram network. The traditional Networking dinner was held at the famous Johnny Foxes pub where attendees were able to make the most of Irish hospitality at its best.

The Plenary meeting on the second day was very productive with the Network deciding to research the usefulness of MoUs as a tool for ITS Associations, and produce a Guide to Best Practice in addition to working together with ERTICO to compile a survey of national policy positions on the various actions in the ITS Action Plan and starting a new activity strand around how ITS Associations can help attract young people to work in the ITS sector.

The event was rounded off by a visit to the Dublin Port tunnel where members were able to see how both the Port Tunnel and related motorways are monitored and controlled.

The next meeting will take place in Helsinki, March 21-22, kindly hosted by ITS Finland.

Volvo Dynafleet iphone app now available

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:16:51 +0100

Dynafleet, Volvo Trucks' web-based fleet management system, can now be accessed via a new user-friendly application designed for Ipad and Iphone Now it's possible to manage entire fleets and transport assignments remotely, from any location via mobile devices, accessing a range of parameters in real time, including exact location, fuel consumption, driver times, carbon emissions, and the locations of Volvo Trucks' dealerships.

The new Dynafleet App is available now as a free download from the Apple App store:

http://itunes.apple.com/se/app/dynafleet/id508373365?mt=8

Watch a video about the app below:

21st International Symposium on Electronics in Transport: Call for papers

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:29:56 +0100

Slovenian ITS Association

Electrotechnical Association of Slovenia

Electrotechnical Association of Slovenia

CALL FOR PAPERS

ISEP 2013

21st International Symposium on Electronics in Transport

ITS IN REAL-TIME

25 - 26 March 2013 at the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre, Ljubljana, Slovenia

The Slovenian ITS Association, under the umbrella of the Electrotechnical Association of Slovenia is organising the 21st International Symposium on Electronics in Transport – ISEP which promotes a strategic objective of integrating and strengthening the European Research Area in Slovenia as well as in the other member States, Accession States and in some nearby countries.

The theme of the 2013 Symposium is “ITS in Real-Time”. This theme brings focus to the importance of real-time connections between different means of transport (vehicles, trains, ship, planes, etc.), personal devices and infrastructure. Especially because, travellers can benefit from real-time multimodal information which leads to more efficient and eco-friendly choices regarding travel routes and modal choices.

Data generated by connected transport and user systems can provide transport operation centres with detailed, real-time data on traffic volumes, speeds, transit schedule status, parking availability, evolving weather conditions, and other traffic route conditions. This information can be used to optimise transit capacity, traffic signal timing, corridor management, incident and emergency response times, variable speed limits, dynamic road pricing, and road weather surface treatments and can improve real-time travel alerts and advisories. Freight and passenger transportation organisations will also find that the seamless, real-time information exchanges between different means of transport and infrastructure translates into greater economic productivity, administrative cost savings, and profits.

On the other hand, it is of great importance to establish a research network in Slovenia and nearby countries in the area of ITS and to tie it to European and regional research. Each of you will come with your own aspirations to the Symposium will share them with new and old colleagues.

Unique to this event is the encouragement of participation by PhD students who are involved in current state-of-the-art transport research and practical issues concerning ITS. The symposium will give PhD students the opportunity to present their PhD work to a knowledgeable audience. At the same time, it will offer the opportunity for the presentation of achievements of Slovene and foreign researchers.

Further, the symposium gives participants from ministries, universities, research organisations and industry the opportunity to establish personal contacts with the aim of stimulating an efficient transfer of research results to the market, according to the needs and expectations of the users of all modes of transport.

The aim of the symposium is also to encourage dialogue and cooperation among the participants who are involved in solving transport problems and looking for common ITS solutions.

ISEP Symposium is focusing on the following topics:

ITS technologies in and for all modes of transport,
Policy, strategy and standards for future ITS,
The role of ITS in railways, air and maritime traffic,
ITS: saving time and lives,
Communications supporting mobility
Public transport operations and urban mobility,
Human aspect in ITS,
Efficiency in long distance freight,
Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to infrastructure communication technologies and applications,
Road pricing,
Incident detection and emergency management,
The policy and sociology of ITS communications,
Traffic simulation and modelling,
Business models for ITS applications,
Traveller and Traffic information,
Traffic management,
Solutions for travellers with special needs,
Digital maps,
Weather monitoring with traffic control,
ITS training and education,
ITS architecture,
eSafety vehicles,
The Role of IT in Logistics.

Who should attend?

Educators and Researchers,
Representatives of Transport Organisations,
State Officials and Local Community Officials,
Communications Providers,
ITS Manufacturers and Suppliers,
Vehicle Manufacturers and Suppliers,
Transport and Logistics Services Providers,
Environmental Advocates,
Representatives of Public Safety Organisations,
System Integrators,
Telematics Providers,
Students of Technical and Humanistic Sciences.

Symposium program

Experts will speak through a Plenary Session and Technical Sessions. All modes of transport will be included. To contribute please forward an abstract of your paper in an electronic format to the Programme Committee using the application system via www.isep.si. All articles will be reviewed and accepted articles will be published in the Symposium’s Proceedings with ISBN.

On 26 March 2013 a technical visit is planned.

Sponsors for this prestigious event are welcomed.

Language

Official language of the Symposium is English.

Deadlines

14 January 2013 Registration of abstracts

28 January 2013 Notification of acceptance

25 February 2013 Submission of draft paper

11 March 2013 Submission of final paper

Additional information: www.isep.si, e-mail: info@isep.si

Slovenian ITS Association

Stegne 7, SI-1521 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Tel.: +386 1 511 3000

www.sits.si, e-mail: info@sits.si

Electrotechnical Association of Slovenia

Stegne 7, SI-1521 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Tel.: + 386 1 511 3000

www.ezs-zveza.si, e-mail: vitel@guest.arnes.si

First International HeERO conference

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:06:11 +0100

Croatia Ready for Implementation of eCall Service

The first International HeERO Conference on eCall – a new telecommunications service providing an automatic in-vehicle call to the single operational communications 112 center in case of an accident – was opened today at the Westin Hotel in Zagreb. The Conference is organised by the National Protection and Rescue Directorate, in cooperation with ERTICO – ITS Europe and EENA (European Emergency Number Association) and their pilot project partners Hrvatski autoklub and Ericsson Nikola Tesla.

The eCall service aims at enhancing both road and general safety and its development has met with full support of the European Commission from the very beginning. In addition to Croatia, the eCall pilot project has been implemented in eight more countries: the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Sweden, which gathered under the common Pan-European HeERO project (Harmonised eCall European Pilot).

The goal of the conference is to present common efforts and results reached in their respective countries, as well as evaluation and validation of established standards and specifications of eCall service.

Mr Jadran Perinić, addressed the audience on behalf of the National Protection and Rescue Directorate and said that “when fully deployed, the service will reduce response time in case of an accident, save more lives, reduce number of accidents and severity of injuries, as well as bring significant savings in healthcare and recovery expenditures.” Expressing his gratitude for the interest and participation in the Conference he added that “thanks to the hard work of all participants in the national consortium, Croatia is prepared for the implementation of the eCall service.”

"I fully support the intensive work done within the HeERO project which we also expressed in the European Parliament Report on the eCall. Close cooperation among all the stakeholders involved, in particular on the pilot cross-border authentication of eCall, is an essential step to path the way for mandatory implementation of the system in all the Member States in 2015. This is the one goal ahead of us," emphasised Olga Sehnalova, Member of the European Parliament and Rapporteur on "eCall: a new 112 service for citizens" Report.

Among a number of distinguished participants and guests, the gathering was visited by Mr Darko Parić, Assistant Minister of Public Administration; Dr Maja Grba-Bujević, Head of the Croatian Institute of Emergency Medicine; representatives of the national consortium, high officials representing eCall pilot projects from the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Sweden, as well as high representatives from the working group of eCall/ERA GLONASS from the Russian Federation.

At the end of the Conference the participants had the opportunity to see an eCall demonstration in Croatia via a videoconference, i.e. how an eCall by various manufacturers from the Czeck Republic, Italy, Romania, Sweden and Croatia, is activated and received by the system in the National Protection and Rescue Directorate.

The work at the national eCall pilot project in the Republic of Croatia began with the tender launched by the European Commission in the early 2010 within the Information Communication Technology Policy Support Program (ICT PSP). At the end of 2010 the Republic of Croatia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commission with the aim of making the interoperable eCall a reality and at the very beginning of 2011 the national consortium started work headed by the National Protection and Rescue Directorate, Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d. and Hrvatski auto-klub. Also involved are public administration representatives including Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Health, Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Public Administration, Croatian Post and Electronic Communications Agency, as well as private companies such as Hrvatske autoceste d.o.o., P.Z. Auto, Tele2 d.o.o., VIPnet d.o.o. and other institutions such as Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, and the Institute of Transport and Communications.

The eCall service is currently in the phase of examination and validation of established standards and specifications carried out on behalf of the European Commission by national eCall pilot projects in nine countries (the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and Croatia gathered in a joint HeERO project.

The European Commission recommends mandatory implementation of the eCall service in Member States of the European Union by 2015.

Cars safer from 1 November 2012

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 13:42:30 +0100

Europe takes a major step forward in vehicle safety on 1 November 2012 as a basket of new safety requirements for new types of motor vehicles comes into force. Measures which become mandatory include safety belt reminders, safety requirements for electric vehicles, easier child seat anchorages (ISOFIX), better protection of passengers against the displacement of luggage in case of the accident and tyre pressure monitoring system. In addition, cars will be also equipped with gear shift indicators to help drivers save fuel and reduce CO2 emissions. These new features are required under the General Safety Regulation, adopted in 2009. This one regulation replaced more than 50 directives without weakening any safety standard. It thus constitutes a sweeping simplification of European legislation and reduction of regulatory and administrative burden for the vehicle industry.

European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: "We are working hard to improve the safety of European drivers, passengers and road users in general. These new measures will substantially increase the level of safety by reducing the likelihood and consequences of accidents. This will be a tangible achievement of the European Union. And let’s not forget that General Safety Regulation also performed one of the most far-reaching simplifications of our legislation by repealing more than 50 Directives and replacing them with just one single Regulation."

The effects of the new safety requirements

The safety requirements made mandatory for new types of vehicles as of 1 November will have a real impact on the safety of drivers and passengers:

The driver seat will have to be fitted with a safety belt reminder. The device will remind the driver to fasten his or her seatbelt by means of an optical and audible warning that will persist even when the car is already moving

Electric cars will have to fulfil strict electric safety requirements, ensuring that car users cannot get an electric shock from parts in the vehicle or engine compartment

Cars will have to be fitted with at least two ISOFIX child seat anchorage points, which have to be fully integrated in the rear seats. These anchorage points can be used with compatible child seats, resulting in better stability of the child seat and better child protection. The child seats are also much easier to install on the vehicle seats

In addition, cars will be fitted with new labels, warning against the placement of rearward facing child restraint systems on a seat protected by an active frontal airbag

The rear passenger seats in front of the luggage compartment will now have to be made strong enough to protect against the displacement of luggage in the boot, in case of a frontal car crash. Occupants are therefore less likely to be struck by objects flying from the boot (trunk) in an accident, reducing likely bodily harm

Tyres of passenger cars will have to be fitted with an on-board tyre pressure monitoring system detecting loss of air pressure and signalling this to the driver. The chance of tyre blowouts will be thus reduced significantly. Such blowouts can cause severe roll-over accidents. Proper tyre pressure will also ensure the shortest possible braking distance and save fuel and CO2 emissions

Finally, new types of passenger cars will also have to be fitted with gear shift indicators aiding drivers to achieve better fuel economy by adopting a more environmentally friendly driving style

For more information, visit the European Commission website.

Safer vehicles through international harmonisation

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:45:57 +0100

The European Commission has today agreed with international partners on new internationally harmonised rules on Advanced Emergency Braking Systems (AEBS) and Lane Departure Warning Systems (LDWS) for commercial vehicles. EU legislation already sets out dates for the obligatory introduction of these safety enhancing technologies in the EU. To promote safety internationally and help the European automotive industry export trade, it is important that these systems are based on globally harmonised standards. At the United Nations' World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations, the Commission actively contributed to these and other measures, including the adoption of rules for a new generation of Child Restraint Systems (CRS) called "i-Size" and rules covering the safety of batteries fitted in electric vehicles.

The inclusion of these measures in the United Nations' International Agreement on vehicle construction will ensure that the same requirements are adopted not only by Europe, but also by other countries such as Japan, Russia and South Korea, hence reducing market entry barriers and facilitating trade between major automotive markets.

European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: "This is a further step to simplify our legislation and promote international harmonisation that facilitates access by European manufacturers to non- EU markets. We are improving road safety and simplifying legislation, all on the basis of internationally agreed standards. This is how the Cars 2020 Action Plan, presented a week ago, works in practice”.

Source: European Commission

Siim Kallas speech at the Scania Conference on transport

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:16:10 +0100

Speaking at the Scania Transport Conference 2012 on 14 November, Siim Kallas, Vice-President and Commissioner in charge of Transport, addressed some of the concerns of the European road transport today.

The Commissioner acknowledged that the automotive industry is one of the pillars of Europe's economy but he also admitted that this economy is too much dependent on oil and "it makes sense to research and develop innovative and cleaner alternatives". According to Mr Kallas "we need energy-efficient technologies - electricity, hydrogen, natural gas, biogas, liquid biofuels - which can be produced from low-carbon or carbon-free sources, and then deployed in new-generation vehicles". And he manifested his appreciation for the efforts of the automotive industry in investing in research and development to find new alternatives - not only cleaner but also safer solutions.

"Road congestion already today costs us the equivalent of 1% of GDP. It leads directly to poor air quality and noise exposure. And we know that urbanisation will continue; traffic in cities, on their access routes, will grow". Nevertheless the road network "cannot expand indefinitely".
Vice-president Kallas mentioned also road pricing; "road pricing plays a vital role in shaping more sustainable transport behaviour because it can give incentives to purchase and use cleaner vehicles".

Siim Kallas confirmed that the Commission "will continue to support ITS, although the limited financial resources have to be prioritised on the most promising research areas". He concluded by stating that "not to act today will cost more tomorrow" and confirmed the necessity of EU institutions, national and regional administrations, industry and business to work together to "build a European transport system that is competitive and resource-efficient for the future".

Read the full speech here.

Stakeholder Survey "Europe's Digital Future"

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:21:30 +0100

The European Commission Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) makes policies, programmes and projects with the aim of implementing the European Digital Agenda. This work has a wide impact on many people and organisations.

In order to maximise the benefits of today's ICT developments and address societal changes they bring along, DG CONNECT is committed to improving interaction with individuals, groups and organisations to effectively deliver the Digital Agenda for Europe.

The aim of the survey is to learn more about individuals, groups, organisations and entities who are involved in, or have views on, shaping Digital Agenda for Europe.

The European Commission seeks more information on the areas stakeholders are interested in as well as rating the importance and level of satisfaction of certain aspects of interaction, for example easy access to information and the importance of timely and accurate feedback.

The survey will be open until 2 December and will take from 5 to 10 minutes to complete. Answers will remain anonymous.

In January 2013 the main findings of the survey will be published on the Digital Agenda for Europe website.

Click here to complete the survey.

Marcel Visser speaks in Taiwan

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:24:35 +0100

Advisory Board member Marcel Visser speaks in Taiwan

A member of ERTICO’s Advisory Board, Michael Visser spoke last week at the Taiwan Telematics 2012 conference organised by TPO/TTIA.

Speaking to more than 350 delegates representing the Taiwanese Government and Industry, the presentation gave an overview of the 112 EU eCall project and discussed issues relating to telematics, including eCall in the APAC region. Visser also described the challenges regarding the missing link between vehicles and infrastructure.

The speech was extremely well received by participants of the event who enjoyed presentations from a number of leading telematics experts from across the industry.

Marcel Visser is Vice President of the Automotive division at Cinterion

ITS World Congress interviews

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:36:56 +0100

During the 19th ITS World Congress in Vienna, ERTICO - ITS Europe and Melinda Crane interviewed several ERTICO Partnersat the exhibition. Representatives from various industries in the ITS value chain were invited to share their viewpoints and impressions on the event.

Click on the link to hear what ITS stakeholders have to say on the transport event of 2012.

Kristina Stifter, PTVr	Rodolphe Frugès, Orange
Svend Tofting, North Denmark Region	Roberto Baldessari, NEC
Phil Pettitt, innovITS	Eric-Mark Huitema, IBM
Filip Sergey, HONDA	Jean-Michel Henchoz, DENSO
Martin Howell, Cubic	Joachim P.Creutzburg, BOSCH

Kapsch sells its share in Russian joint venture

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:21:23 +0100

Kapsch TrafficCom AG (ISIN AT000KAPSCH9), listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange in the prime market segment, announces that LLC Kapsch TrafficCom Russia has withdrawn from the joint venture OOO United Toll Systems (UTS). UTS is the joint venture that was awarded a contract for maintenance of the toll-based operation of the Russian M-4 Don motorway in December 2011. Kapsch TrafficCom Russia held a share of 33.3 percent in this joint venture. The joint venture partner Mostotrest takes over these shares in UTS. The deal will amount to EUR 6 million and is expected to close by the end of 2012.

The decision was made for reasons of company strategy, says Michael Weber, member of the Board at Kapsch TrafficCom Russia. “Kapsch is an experienced supplier of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Our primary focus is therefore not the operation of roads but to build and operate advanced toll systems and ITS solutions. Consequently, we want to continue to concentrate on other strategic projects and ITS opportunities in Russia, such as city access solutions, other toll projects and the upcoming tender for a national toll system,” explains Weber. General Director of Mostotrest Vladimir Vlasov adds: “We are pleased that Kapsch TrafficCom Russia is remaining our partner in providing consulting services and technical support for the project’s implementation.”

New leadership for Kapsch Russia

“The Russian market has great potential in our field of business,” emphasizes Erwin Toplak, COO of Kapsch TrafficCom. “We are looking forward to further cooperation in providing products, solutions and services for Russian road concessions in general and UTS in particular. We will therefore focus our efforts in order for our local organization to be ideally positioned for upcoming projects in Russia, which are very demanding of resources.” As part of this effort, Boris A. Borisov was appointed the new CEO of Kapsch TrafficCom Russia on 1 June 2012. Borisov previously held leadership positions at Motorola and General Electric, as well as a number of local companies.

For more information, please contact Marcus Handl - Investor Relations Officer.

Urban Mobility Day - cities meet industry

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:19:16 +0100

The final session on urban mobility was opened by Dean Herenda, from the Slovenian Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning. Mr Herenda explained that the session was to focus on urban mobility success stories, first taking the cities of London and Bordeaux as examples and discussion initiators, before moving on to the perspective of industry representatives.

The first speaker was John McCarthy, Director Traffic Operations, Transport for London (TfL). After giving an overview of the situation in London, Mr McCarthy described a cooperative network as one where all nodes, such as vehicles, infrastructure and people are connected in real time, and warned “we are only as good as the data available". At this point, Mr McCarthy differentiated data from information, which is personalised, accessible and useful. Mr McCarthy went on to extol the virtues of a cooperative network, which would reduce costs and improve journey timetable reliability.

Mr McCarthy said that “we have a vision, and we must turn that vision into reality". He then went through some considerations:

returning to the subject of data, Mr McCarthy specified that it must be “reliable, resilient, real-time infrastructure independent, interoperable with an open standard – the key question are: can it cope with a deluge of data, who owns/pays, and can I have it now?”
regarding technology, Mr McCarthy asked who the owner is, whether it is off the shelf, who owns it, what stops us having it today/tomorrow, if there is there a minimum spec, and finally what must TfL do to get it
considering communications, Mr McCarthy identified as important what is available, the link between communications and infrastructure, reliant channel bandwidth, and the different needs of V2I, V2V and P2P.
in regards to applications, Mr McCarthy asked what they will it look like, how they will it be used, who will adopt them, and when we can use them?
finally for architecture Mr McCarthy underlined that it should be based on lessons drawn from each user’s perspective and needs

The next speaker was Jean-Marc Rouffet, representing the city of Bordeaux, host of the next ITS World Congress to be held in Europe, in 2015. Mr Rouffet noted that Bordeaux has witnessed a 8% rise in population and a 10% rise in journeys between 1198 and 2009. Over the same period of time, car use has dropped by 5%, whilst public transport saw a rise of 2%, cycling 1%, and walk 2%. Bordeaux also invested in more tram and cycle infrastructure. Mr Rouffet also noted the importance of multimodality, even – especially – in the planning of public transport routes. At one point for example, Bordeaux’s bus lines would end near the trams, but following a reconfiguration, bus lines now intersect tram lines, and usage of the whole network has increased by 6% and the bus network specifically by 10%. Mr Rouffet also underlined the need for good quality cycling infrastructure.

After the two introductions by cities, Mr Herenda invited industry representatives to comment. First to speak was John Chipperfield, CTO, SWARCO. Mr Chipperfield took up Mr McCarthy’s point on turning vision into reality, using SWARCO as an example of how to improve traffic flow and incident detection and reducing pollution and energy use. Mr Chipperfield noted that in terms of ITS infrastructure, it is a case of “evolution not revolution - we can't change everything overnight”. On the other hand, Mr Chipperfield also said that “the paradigm change is here - it is not just coming, it is already here, and the data is key - data needs to be open, needs to be shared, and needs to be accurate".

The next industry representative was Christian Barrios, Managing Director, Q-Free Americas. Mr Barrios started by noting “I think the industry in Europe is totally different from in the US for example", in that they have already adopted standards. Europe is different, according to Mr Barrios, has been protectionist, although he recognised that the European Commission is forcing countries to share information. Speaking from a background in the computer industry, Mr Barrios argued that a new generation of companies, like Google or TomTom, will just go ahead and share information anyway, and that therefore traditional industries must adapt. In this regard Mr Barrios highlighted ERTICO’s role as “a great enabler for industry”.

However, "if we compare the traffic industry to the computer industry, we are twenty years behind". Mr Barrios predicted consolidation in the traffic industry, as tolling, ports, airports etc. will become part of one industry, traffic management, with common interfaces and applications. "Industry will change or be changed by Google and their peers"

The next speaker was Lucien Linders, Business Unit Director Consultancy and Innovation, VIALIS B.V., who noted that they had “seen big changes in our clients - now they ask for full solutions, 'please keep our cities flowing'". He noted that cooperative systems avoid a top-down approach - data is provided from the ground, and that is a vital element in providing today’s and tomorrow’s mobility solutions.

Next to speak was Klaas Rozema, CTO, IMTECH/PEEK. Mr Rozema predicted that there would be less emphasis on road side unites and more on cloud computing. He highlighted the FREILOT pilot as a great example of cooperative technology resulting in a commercial product, Europe’s first. Mr Rozema noted that "unfortunately, most applications to do with cooperative systems demand 100% penetration", which is why FREILOT’s focus on a segment of the potential overall cooperative systems market proved to be most prescient.

Richard Harris from Xerox then took the floor. He noted a certain disconnect between road operators and the automobile manufacturing sector, with there being maybe 14 motor manufacturers in the world, but over 100 road operators in UK alone. Mr Harris talked about PIARC (the World Road Association) which brings together the road administrations of 118 governments as an important intermediary, and highlighted the recent report on cooperative systems. Mr Harris stressed that road operators need robust systems that are future proof, as indeed do consumers. Mr Harris illustrated teh latter with an example of the cost of replacing an in-built sat-nav system in a standard car – 3000 (UK) pounds. “Who could afford to replace that?”

The final industry representative was Hauke Juergensen, Head Intelligent Traffic Systems, SIEMENS, who noted the large amount of progress in terms of cooperative systems – “they just didn’t exist a few years ago”. Regarding the progress made, Mr Juergensen lauded ERTICO as “a very strong organisation, with a strong voice”. He underlined that technologically, cooperation is not a great problem. “We need to get the people together and speak with one voice - industry, policy makers and road operators” he affirmed, as business cases are urgently needed. “In order to guarantee a high level of safety and comfort, clean air etc, we need to do more on cooperative systems"

Following the city-industry dialogue, a number of interesting points arose from the audience. One concern was privacy and data security, as public authorities have “no problems sharing data as long as there are no unique identifiers which can be used to identify individuals”.

The importance and role of social media was also recognised, and it was agreed that it was not yet clear how social media’s role in transport would evolve.
An interesting point was raised regarding data provision, namely that companies expect to receive data for free from public authorities - and then sell it to the consumer. Was this ethical? Here, Mr McCarthy again noted the difference between data and (useful) information. Anybody could have access to the raw data, it is the repackaging and processing of it that is the service which must be paid for.

The intelligent use of navigation devices en mass was another concern raised by a public authority representative. “We do not want thousands o cars driving by a school just because there is congestion on the motorway and everybody’s navigation device reroutes them - the public authority must be involved for the public good”.

Finally, Zeljko Jeftic, Senior Project manager at ERTICO, recommended greater use of the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) from the European Union as a catalyst for deployment. Mr Jeftic, speaking with the experience of the afore-mentioned FREILOT (CIP) pilot, noted that it was an excellent tool to create early adopters. Generally speaking, he recommended less focus on R&D projects, more on deployment, and stressed the importance of having a stipulation to implement a post-pilot business plan. More on the lessons of FREILOT, one of the first CIP pilots in transport, can be read here.

ADASIS ten year anniversary video released!

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 15:19:02 +0100

To celebrate ten years of the ADASIS Forum, the ADASIS video was premièred at the 19th ITS World Congress in Vienna. View the video below.

For more information, contact Jean-Charles Pandazis or click here.

Closing ceremony and third plenary session – global connectivity revolution

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:44:28 +0100

The 19th ITS World Congress, under the theme “smarter on the way”, drew to a close on Friday, after five hectic yet productive days. Over five days, over 300 exhibitors and 10000 participants from more than 90 countries worldwide attended this annual meeting point of transport executives from around the globe. Mrs Melinda Crane welcomed delegates to the auditorium, summarising some of the key achievements of the week, highlighting in particular the ministerial round table’s joint statement.

"the momentum is unstoppable, ITS is happening"
"There is a sense of excitement at this World Congress, a threshold marking the transition to ITS deployment"

The chief rapporteur, Eric Sampson, then took the stage to give the first report of the Congress. Read more here.

“We began the congress with yet more commitment to deliver solutions to users. Vienna 2012 has succeeded where generations of mathematicians have failed: the Ministerial Round Table of 40+ Ministers, senior officials and heads of International bodies was actually square.”

Neelie Kroes, Vice-President and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, then took the stage to deliver a key-note address. Thanking all delegates for their contributions to making the Congress such a great success, Commissioner Kroes noted that “we need smart solutions for transport: our economic and environmental future depends on it. Especially for road transport, of all kinds: passenger and freight; short distance and long; urban and rural; four-wheelers, two-wheelers, eighteen-wheelers.”

Referring to the ever increasing challenges faced by transport authorities, not to mention energy consumption and climate change, Commissioner Kroes underlined that the need to boost the economy was also a vital consideration – and that “a big part of the transformation in the coming decades will come from new digital technology. The fact is, new ICT technologies are changing everything. Every sector is getting online, and using digital opportunities. Including transport...”

Commissioner Kroes then identified three thoughts to keep in mind:

eCall is a great step forward. Could be reality for all very soon, saving 2000 lives a year.
two thrids of Europeans live in urban areas - smarter means better, greener, more pleasant. “None of this is science-fiction. Indeed, in many cases, the ideas to power smart cities are already out there, the technology is available: we just need to deploy those inventions on the ground."
to bring about this transformation, we need to continue to cooperate intensely. The cooperation between manufacturers, road operators and road authorities in the "Amsterdam group" is a good example.

Finally Commissioner Kroes noted how transport will gain directly and indirectly from Horizon 2020 – “We will invest in smart, green and integrated transport”

Read the full speech here.

The third and final plenary session of the Congress then took place. Mrs Crane invited Hiroyuki Watanabe, Chairman of ITS Japan, and Ton Steenman, Vice-President Intel Architecture Group onstage to tackle the subject “global connectivity revolution”.

Mrs Crane asked Mr Watanabe how ITS would transform individual lives. After graciously thanking the organisers for a successful Congress, Mr Watanabe noted that “connectivity has been a core concept of ITS since the beginning, 20 years ago.” He went on to explain that back then, nobody would have wanted to pay over wireless for many reasons - trust, reliability etc. Now, people are in favour of the idea, and this is a key change which enables ITS services.

Mr Watanabe also drew delegates’ attention to a key lesson from 2011 Great Japanese earthquake – “connected vehicles and people mean resilient transport.”

Tom Steenman then spoke, noting that US teenagers would now rather give up their car than internet – a huge societal change! He also underlined that we spend hours in our cars – and thus that connected vehicles will become ever more important. Mr Steenman noted that this would also bring challenges. Only relevant information should be shown to drivers, eyes should be kept on the road so speech recognition or gesture control needs to be developed, and security needs more attention.

Mr Steenman noted that “opportunities are the basis of business”, asking who the main stakeholders in the global connectivity revolution are, and who will most benefit?

Mr Watanabe then spoke, identifying a wide range of stakeholders in the value chain. He also noted that it is hard to know how much a contribution individuals make in terms of ecodriving - connectivity can help here, creating a virtual cycle – plus the cash benefits will also be shown directly!

Mr Watanabe explained that a truly networked society will help all - zero emissions and zero fatalities will become possible, and interestingly, the idea that citizens’ actions have societal impacts will increase, to the benefit of society as a whole.

Mr Steenman was then asked how how the IT sector views the transport sector. He answered “as an opportunity and a challenge”. A tremendous amount of optimisation is possible, with so much congestion in roads, seaports etc - a better transport system is needed. Mr Steenman argued that many technologies and concepts – eg. cloud computing - will have huge impact, and will bring great benefit to economies worldwide.

Eric Sampson, chief rapporteur of the 19th ITS World Congress, then took the stage to give out the best paper awards. Noting that over 800 papers had been received, and that around 150 of these would be published in IET, he underlined high quality of submissions. The winners of the best papers at ITS Vienna 2012 are:

Sébastien Mure, ERTICO – ITS EUROPE, Technical, “A guide for Pre-Commercial Procurement actors in ITS”
Mario Sattler , via donau, Technical, “Opening governmental traffic management infrastructure for the mutual benefits of authorities and logistics – River Information Services in Europe”
Christopher Emmerson, Newcastle University, Scientific, “In-Vehicle Navigation Systems and Older Drivers”
Akiyoshi Yamazaki, Saitama Prefectural Police, Technical, “Development of the Pedestrian Priority Signal Systems (PPSS) and its effect”
Liang Xue, The University of Tokyo, Scientific, "Global 3D Modelling and its Evaluation for Large-Scale Highway Tunnel using Laser Range Sensor”
Matthew Dorfman, D'Artagnan Consulting, Technical, “Software as a Service and the growth of ITS”
Ismail Zohdy, Virginia Tech, Scientific, “Optimizing Driverless Vehicles At Intersections”

The winners of the 2012 ITS Video Competition were then honoured by Hermann Meyer, ERTICO CEO. Over 50 videos had been submitted before an open vote produced a short list of eight videos in each category – "ITS community" and "general public" – which was then deliberated upon and judged by an committee of ITS experts. The finalists- three videos in each category – were then shown at the VIP dinner of the Congress, and a final vote held.

The winners of the 2012 ITS Video Competition are:

Cubic Transportation Systems with “Making the Vision of Intelligent Travel a Reality” (ITS community category)
Griffith University (Australia) with “Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems: Safe and Sustainable Transport” (general public category)

“The beauty of the competition is that we only have winners, as we have raised the awareness of the benefits of ITS”

Finally, to wrap the 19th ITS World Congress up, the traditional “passing of the globe” ceremony was held – see you in Tokyo 2013!

Urban Mobility Day – European Commission’s expert group on ITS for urban areas

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:54:03 +0100

Wednesday 24 October saw the start of something new at ITS Congresses – an entire day devoted to one topic, including stakeholder sessions, executive sessions and a special urban mobility tour round the exhibition area. The Urban Mobility day was organised by ERTICO and the European Commission, and is part of the ERTICO strategy to drive forward the deployment of ITS where it is needed most, in urban areas. The Urban Mobility Day follows on from two ERTICO Fora devoted to Urban Mobility. Read – and view – more here and here. General information on the European Commission’s Expert Group on ITS for urban areas can be found here.

The first, and opening, session of the day focussed on the European Commission’s Expert Group on ITS for urban areas. The expert group has been working on guidelines for the deployment of key ITS applications in urban areas, and in particular on the provision and organisation of multimodal information, traffic management and smart ticketing.
The proceedings were opened by Gunter Zimmermeyer, previously Chairman of ERTICO. Mr Zimmermeyer reiterated ERTICO's ongoing commitment to ITS for urban mobility, underlining its growing importance now that the world's population is more urban than rural - and will become ever more so.

Dorota Szeligowska, European Commission, took the floor as the session moderator, giving an over -view of the expert group and its work. Placing the guidelines in the context of the Commission’s renewed focus on the urban dimension in EU transport policy, Mrs Szeligowska explained how the ITS expert group, which came together in December 2010 for 24 months with 25 members from different stakeholder groups, has focussed on four key applications:

The main outcomes of the expert group’s deliberations are:

identifying best practice for applications of urban ITS
guidelines for urban ITS deployment
identifying the possible need for further standardisation on a European level

Mrs Szeligowska highlighted 15 May 2012 Forum on urban mobility organised jointly by ERTICO and Eurocities, where the expert group’s preliminary findings were discussed amidst much interest from the wider ITS community. This directly led to the organisation of the Urban Mobility Day at ITS Vienna 2012.

In general, Mrs Szeligowska highlighted the need for

raising awareness of ITS
guidelines for ITS deployment
addressing decision makers not producing technical documents
analysing how ITS solutions can help resolve problems and achieve policy goals
identifying stakeholders and roles
identifying key points to foster deployment
providing recommendations

The first ITS expert to speak was Jean Coldefy, Grand Lyon, who reported on the groups work on multimodal information services. Leading with a very positive assessment - "The expert group is convinced that the technology and business model are ready to support information services not for research but real users", Mr Coldefy reflected that public authorities have four main goals regarding transport policy:

ease movement of people and goods
ensure accessibility of towns
reduce environmental and socio-economic impacts
re-conquer public space from private cars in favour of eco- friendly modes

Mr Coldefy opined that big new infrastructure building is over - now MIS (management information systems) will be deployed, having a great impact on behaviour, and finding the best combination of public and private actors’ assets. Mr Coldefy noted that in the urban sphere, the share of public space is the main constraint for policy makers.

Mr Coldefy made a series of recommendations

cooperation between public and private actors. To encourage this public data and services should be made available, on the condition that the date usage is coherent with public policy. Data quality and completeness musty be ensured.
availability of data and information for each mode of transport and mobility services
marketing - market the modal shift and traveller information services
harmonisation and continuity of services - foster cooperation

The next speaker to take the floor was Alexandre Balquière, from Tisséo-SMTC Toulouse, on the topic of smart ticketing. Mr Balquière reflected on the goal of ticketing - to collect fares and control or reduce fraud. To this end, he pointed out that “smart” means the integration of services and technologies, and that “smart” is not necessarily about one ticket for the entire (multi-modal) journey, but one wallet, enabling the seamless purchase of whichever tickets are necessary. Mr Balquière specified that if there is an integrated transport policy, one ticket is possible, but in the absence of an integrated policy, one wallet is enough.

Mr Balquière noted that smart ticketing modified the relationship between the traveller and his ticket. Complementary services could easily and usefully be proposed to the traveller; efficiency, accessibility and the image of urban mobility could be improved; and data collected through the use of smart tickets.

How would a smart ticket actually be used? Mr Balquière identified three options:

using a dedicated application and support- eg a smart phone
virtual tickets – SMS, email etc., similar to some airlines
secure ID and back office processing - eg bankcards

Mr Balquière also noted that with more and more personalised tickets, it would become harder to propose group tickets.

Mr Balquière identified the main stakeholders...

clients - frequent travellers or occasional
scheme providers - provide the tickets
industrial suppliers provide the ITS solution
PT authorities and operators
banks and mobile phone operators
lobbies and media

... and the benefits of smart ticketing...

integration of services in a single media
facilitate interoperability between different public transport operators etc
deep modification of distribution process - less cost and smart payments and remote selling over internet
reduce the dwelling time on public transport - increase public transport speed thus reducing operational cost
reduction of maintenance cost

... and the impact of smart ticketing...

cotemporary image
integration of other services - promote a pack of services to final user
easier access to information - potential interface with MIS
easier remote sales - reduce queuing
integration of privacy protection
impact on public transport organisations and business models

...before moving on to the recommendations...

smart ticketing is not replacement of traditional ticketing - features and functions need to be identified
new choices of distribution channel increase speed power and flexibility for final users
smart wallets and post-payment options create a new relationship between client and ticket
marketing issue and public support needed to promote the benefits
integration with MIS - ensure high user satisfaction
integrate organisational and legal issues to overcome geographical barriers and ensure an EU-wide scheme
protection of data privacy vital for acceptability
adopt standards and off-the-shelf products to control costs

The final speaker of the session was Steve Kearns, Transport for London, who reported on the merged topic of traffic management and urban logistics. Mr Kearns noted that the recommendations were directed at decision makers at a local or regional level, so great effort was expended to keep the language non technical non-technical. Mr Kearns underlined that "ITS is not a goal, it is a tool to meet goals, policy driven goals", such as reducing congestion or energy consumption.

But how does ITS actually help in delivering policy goals? Mr Kearns highlighted that "ITS operates and adds value at every level", although he noted that data sources and integrity are vitally important in this regard.

Mr Kearns highlighted:

cooperation, partnership and interoperability
essential tasks for successful delivery
targeting individuals, optimising network performance
maximising automation minimise human intervention at operational level standards and harmonisation

Finally, Mr Kearns noted the following issues which had arisen as a result of the expert group’s work:

urban logistics - integral element of urban traffic management
evolving technologies - need to strengthen references to V2X
parking management - "the problem caused by vehicles just looking for parking is becoming more and more apparent"
standards - technical, but also descriptive, avoid vendor lock in
policies vs projects
information services - personalised vs collective – the Olympics show that personal targeted information very effective at influencing behaviour
automation of traffic management

_________

1. Mrs Szeligowska referenced the white paper on transport 2011 "Towards a single European transport area" and the ITS action plan and associated directive, as well as the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme

Sébastien Mure, Project Support Manager at ERTICO, received the Best Paper Award

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:32:41 +0100

Sébastien Mure, Project Support Manager at ERTICO, was amongst the winners of the Best Paper Awards granted at the closing Ceremony of the 19th ITS World Congress in Vienna. His work "A guide for Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) actors in ITS" was acknowledged as joint-winner of the Technical Paper for the Europe region.

The paper presents what PCP is and the benefits it can bring to the deployment of ITS. It introduces the P3ITS Handbook and its structure as a guide providing recommendations for a wider use of PCP. Sébastien Mure’s presentation on the paper is available here.

Cubic Nextcity video wins prestigious International Competition

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:17:03 +0100

Cubic Transportation Systems has emerged victorious in the ITS World Congress 2012 video competition

Cubic’s four-minute video illustrates Nextcity, Cubic’s vision for a fully-integrated payments, information and decision management system for deployment across urban transport networks. The potential of Nextcity to revolutionise the way we travel in cities is demonstrated through the stories of three regular commuters, whose travel choices are guided by a single integrated transport account which helps make their everyday journeys faster, more comfortable and more cost-effective.

The competition results were announced today at the closing ceremony of the ITS World Congress in Vienna, where the global ITS community had come together to discuss the latest trends and policies in Intelligent Transport Systems. Cubic, a business unit of Cubic Corporation (NYSE:CUB) and a leading integrator of payment and information technology and services for intelligent travel solutions, faced stiff competition from a field of over 50, which included many of the biggest names in the industry. The video competition was organised and run by ERTICO, the network of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services stakeholders in Europe.

Announcing the results, Hermann Meyer, chief executive officer of ERTICO and the organiser of the ITS World Congress said, “The 2012 ITS video competition was launched in order to highlight the importance of awareness raising to encourage the timely deployment of ITS. I am delighted at the response from the ITS community this year, and I heartily congratulate Cubic Transportation Systems, a new ERTICO partner, for winning the ITS video competition with their excellent ‘Nextcity’ video. Telling a real story in an engaging way helps people to relate to the new possibilities of ITS, which are available now.”

Steve Shewmaker, president of Cubic Transportation Systems, was in Vienna for the announcement. He says, “The entire team is absolutely thrilled to be recognised in such a prestigious forum as the ITS World Congress. Cubic has excellent credentials in the market, having been responsible for many of the most significant advances in the sector over the past four decades. Nextcity represents the next potential step change, delivering many and varied benefits to transport operators and travelers alike.

“There’s widespread interest in the market in what integrated systems can deliver and a number of suppliers have their own interpretation of how urban networks might look in the future,” continues Shewmaker. “What sets Cubic apart, however, is its depth and longevity of experience. We’re uniquely placed to speak authoritatively on the subject and are delighted that this has been so clearly recognised via the public vote.”

Shewmaker says that the video has been the starting point for conversations with transport operators around the globe who recognise that information is fundamental in helping them meet their commitments to transport greater numbers of passengers, cost-effectively, safely and comfortably. “The beauty of Nextcity is that it is modular and can be deployed incrementally, with legacy technology as its foundation. Nextcity is visionary but it’s also attainable, which is what makes it such an attractive prospect.”

For more information on the ITS video competition, click here.

Source: Cubic

ITS World Congress. Closing Speech by Professor Eric Sampson

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:19:07 +0100

Closing Speech by Professor Eric Sampson
ERTICO Chief Rapporteur

You may be wondering how one person was able to attend 245 congress sessions, a large exhibition and 33 separate demonstrations in order to deliver this report. The answer is that I didn’t need to because I had huge help from a team of 20 reporter colleagues acting as my “eyes and ears” and collecting material for this presentation to you. I want to thank them all very warmly and also my colleagues at ERTICO for their support and help.

We are almost at our 20th congress and I’m going to start my summary by looking back to Paris in 1994.

In 1994 our subject was very young. New technology was emerging but we didn’t think deeply about how we might actually use it or if it really worked reliably. The big issues were what might be available and when, and what would it cost.

These technologies led us into an era when we could deliver single function solutions such as navigation, traveller information, traffic management. And we could do that well but users wanted something more.

For almost all the time since then we have benefitted from some radical technology changes. The prices of just about everything have gone down, but the performance has gone up. Think about telecommunications – remember your first mobile phone? it cost the earth and would hardly fit into your car let alone your pocket. And now it comes with satellite navigation as a routine precision tool available at no cost. The computing power available to us has also gone up phenomenally while prices have fallen. And we have a large family of new sensors for temperature, flow rates, gas emissions feeding us with real-time information.

The vehicles carrying our technology have also changed (and I am using vehicle in the broadest sense of cars, ships, aeroplanes, buses, trains, trams). They are faster, more comfortable, stronger and safer, with reduced emissions, and reduced fuel consumption.

Over the last five or so years we moved into an era where we have been able to join up our solutions to make systems:

Navigation that listens to traffic management information and re-routes the traveller for the best journey
Vehicles that don’t just know how to get to their destination, but can advise on the most fuel-efficient route to take and driving style
Infrastructure that is smart and can warn vehicles of potential hazards such as collisions, congestion, or very bad weather and advise drivers what to do
Smart infrastructure that can give public transport and emergency vehicles priority in traffic and at junctions

We have entered a new world:

the world of intelligent
the world of adaptive, predictive
the world of smart

This isn’t abstract theory: it’s real. Proof of our current successes, and ability to deliver better solutions for users, has been displayed in over 800 papers presented at sessions. I’ll list just a few of the topics in papers that have excited our team of reporters

Monitoring urban traffic and networks using mobile sensors
Traffic management for disasters or extreme conditions eg typhoons, earthquakes
Use of social media
Predicting traffic accident occurrence
Telecomms information security and resilience
ITS supporting mobility, security, and manageability
Mobility for elderly and disabled people
Interoperability and multimodality for Freight and Logistics services
ITS solutions that reduce on-site border waiting times
Human behaviour and human factors interventions utilising ITS
Advances in V-to-X cooperative systems
Deployment of cross-border eCall
Deployment of connected vehicles in inner cities.
Worldwide discussion and collaboration on trials of connected systems
Vehicle platooning, especially the implications for commercial vehicles
Possible deployment of highly autonomous vehicles
Using ITS to modify driving for reduced energy, fuel consumption and emissions
Vehicle and infrastructure aspects of electromobility
Smart Grids and joining up the transport and energy communities
Sustainability and emissions in cities and the links to well-being and health

I want to stress those words “solutions for users” because they sum up the vibrant and wide-ranging exhibition we all experienced. I couldn’t help noticing as I walked round that the talk was not about bits or bytes or bandwidth or Bluetooth protocols. It was about business – prices, contracts, delivery times. This exhibition wasn’t show-off technology but a confident display of solutions ready for users. And yesterday we had a different group of visitors – over 1700 members of the public, schoolchildren, students, who came to look at what we can do. And we had some future customers for services who were brought in pushchairs and prams.

We have also shown what we can do in the congress demonstrations. These were real, not video recorded safely in a laboratory. You could look closely, touch, and experience advances in solutions for safety, the environment, efficiency and comfort. Here are a few examples to remind you:

Cooperative mobility
In-vehicle signs
Park-and-ride direction
Speed monitor
E-Mobility
Fully electric vehicles
Energy-saving routing
EV and public transport integration
Navigation and sensors
Tracking dangerous goods
Fully automated parking
Emergency braking
Network management & operations
Vehicle tolling
Integrated smart ticketing
The fully seamless journey
Public transport
Route optimisation
Flow management at large events
Congress navigator

We began the congress with yet more commitment to deliver solutions to users. Vienna 2012 has succeeded where generations of mathematicians have failed: the Ministerial Round Table of 40+ Ministers, senior officials and heads of International bodies was actually square. Its key outcome was unanimous political backing to accelerate the further and wider deployment of ITS for users everywhere.

So does this mean we have we solved all our transport problems − no, of course not. ITS continues to move onwards and upwards.

We still don’t have a very good understanding of traveller behaviour and the ways in which we might change it and in particular we are not keeping up with people’s use of social media and social networks. And we’re still not doing the best we might to deliver genuinely seamless travel backed by through e-ticketing and e-payment.

The challenges now are multi-dimensional and by that I mean both doing two things at once – raising throughput AND cutting emissions – and supplying seamless travel services and through ticketing across regional and international boundaries.

Some of the biggest problems we face are in cities

In 2005 the world’s urban populations overtook rural and they are ageing
The proportion of the EU population living in urban areas is expected to rise from 75% now to 80% by 2030
Adding to city infrastructure is slow, expensive, and usually unwelcome
In many cities there is no space to expand except ‘up’

We need to get a better understanding of the links between mobility and emissions in cities and the links to well-being and health of the population – and we need to deliver that in ways that are sustainable in the long term.

In short, we need smarter cities.

We’ll report on progress in these areas next year at Tokyo whose theme is: Open ITS to the Next

Tokyo will present how ITS is expanding into the next stage of mobility and society. Starting with safety and traffic management as basic concerns, ITS is reaching out to three new domains:

energy management
personalised mobility services drawing knowledge for navigation from very large data sets
and resilient transport systems.

The first two stem from the emergence of electrified vehicles and continuously advancing ICT technologies. The third concept of resilient transport has become very important since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. At the same time, mobility in mega cities/regions is a major issue to be addressed in emerging economies, especially in Asia, as I have described briefly.

Open has been adopted as the keyword for expanding the potential of ITS: open platforms for basic concerns, and open connectivity, opportunities and collaboration for the three new domains.

Tokyo will build on Vienna 2012 in the same way as we have benefitted from and built on Orlando 2011. I’m going to finish with my assessment of what might be the hottest 10 topics to watch for next year:

Connected vehicles

Connected vehicles offer a major opportunity to change transport. There are separate initiatives world-wide and serious discussions about the development of global standards and specifications. We also await results from the large Michigan trial. But there’s still many unresolved issues about the ultimate safety and security (in the sense of resilience against attack) of connected systems as well as the question of liability. And then there’s the ultimate connected vehicle – automation which is now openly discussed as a medium-term solution to human failings.

Integration

Single-solution products are declining as users prefer their services to talk to each other and exchange information. We are getting better at this and at creating bigger systems. However we still need to do more to integrate people, modes, and institutions, as well as projects, programs, products and devices.

Interoperability

Another user-driven initiative. We would never accept a credit card that worked in the Netherlands but not Austria and we are now requiring our transport services to operate without interruption when we cross national or even international borders. For the freight industry these solutions are long overdue.

Smart Cities

This is the tough one – managing cities with strategies and policies that link together transport, energy, water and waste, health, land planning

Social media

I’ve mentioned that we are lagging in some aspects. The use of social intelligent incentives to reward good behaviour rather than penalising bad is an attractive solution and a way to catch up

Modernising our evaluation of benefits

We need more data on the evaluation of projects whether very successful or less so. And we need to develop ways to value ‘soft’ benefits such as time saved, reduced disruption to a network, reduced environmental impact. In some areas lack of benefits data is slowing the development of business cases and that slows deployment.

Electromobility

Everybody thinks fully- or partially-electric vehicles are a good idea but very few people make a clear case why. There is much to do here understanding the links between

vehicle characteristics
driver behaviour
energy supply grids
the overall emissions patterns and costs
and then staging well-planned large scale trials to test our theories.
cloud computing

Many see using the cloud as a means of limiting security risks and cutting costs but transport is all about mobility and mobile access to the cloud relies on telecoms services. It’s not yet clear that these are sufficiently resilient and secure especially for safety functions.

A bigger role for smartphones

This is being driven by two factors: the increasing adoption of Open data policies by governments that have given raw material to hundreds of app developers; and the realisation that something millions of us carry is a nomadic communications channel to vehicles of every description except perhaps aircraft.

ITS for older drivers

We have barely started to explore how we can supply highly personalised services to help support an ageing population with safe and affordable mobility.

I am sure you’ll realise that some of the issues I have described would require some changes to the ways in which we work and travel. But I want to close by urging you not to worry about change. We have benefitted from much change since 1994. And as someone once said: if you do what you always did you’ll get what you’ve always got.

Neelie Kroes presides over the iMobility Awards 2012 at the 2012 ITS World Congress

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:27:15 +0100

Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, attended this year’s iMobility Award Ceremony at the 2012 ITS World Congress in Vienna. Ms Kroes welcomed the attendees by highlighting the importance of the iMobility Awards in recognising and promoting ambitious and innovative iMobility deployments, paving the way to safe, smart and clean road mobility.

Presiding over the Awards Ceremony at the iCar Support stand in the 2012 ITS World Congress, Ms Kroes congratulated all the nominees, paying tribute to their high calibre and professionalism, before calling the three winners to the stage to hand over their awards. M Kroes underlined, “the iMobility Awards are the perfect occasion to introduce to the ITS World Congress delegates those who have been recognised by the ITS community as paving the way to the mobility of the future.”

In the industry/technology category, TNO - represented by Joelle van den Broek - were recognised for their work in creating, testing and realising new transport solutions to make mobility cleaner, safer and more reliable. In particular, TNO’s work, together with 20 other companies, on the Dutch Integrated Test site for Cooperative Mobility (DITCM), one of Europe’s première field labs for cooperative mobility, was instrumental in securing the award. Thanking the iMobility Forum for the award, Mrs van den Broek said, “We would like to share our way of working with the rest of Europe, to build a European ecosystem in SmartMobility i an open innovation setting”.

In the policy category, the European Commission - represented by Emilio Dávila González, Project Officer (eCall), DG Connect - was rewarded for its vision and work in bringing the eCall initiative to life. The European Commission has been instrumental in successfully promoting and creating a Europe-wide range of stakeholders working with one vision - that of making eCall available in all vehicles in Europe, with a service working seamlessly wherever the vehicle is, home or abroad. Mr González said, “I would like to thank the iMobility Community for this honour.” Paying tribute to his colleagues, past and present, in DG Connect, and Commissioners Reading and Kroes, Mr González stressed, “It is not just the Commission. If we have progressed in the deployment of eCall, it is because many stakeholders have worked together.”

In the national/local category, the Austrian motorway company ASFINAG - represented by its CTO Bernd Datler - were recognised for their work on cooperative as well as co-modal transport services, demonstrating where user orientation and technical feasibility. A key component in this success was the setting up of a dedicated 18 strong team of experts specialised in bridging the gap between research, development and full-scale deployment. Mr. Datler strongly recommended to other countries that they “encourage parties to start project like these with some sort of public co-funding. I think this is a critical factor to make major achievements in the ITS field.”

A special, discretionary, iMobility Award was given by Mrs Kroes to Jean-Pierre Medevielle, Deputy General Director of IFSTTAR (the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks) in recognition of his dedication throughout his working life to transport and intelligent mobility. As Mrs Kroes pointed out, “Mr Medevielle committed to ITS before the name even existed” when he participated in the ESPRIT programme more than 30 years ago.

For more information, please contact Laetitia Fernandez.

TISA signs a Liaison Agreement with the GENIVI Alliance

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 09:29:12 +0100

Vienna, 26 October 2012

TISA and the GENIVI Alliance, represented respectively by Thomas Kusche (TISA President) and Ton H. Steenman (Vice President, a Founding Charter member of the GENIVI® Alliance) have established a Liaison Agreement between the two organisations, during the ITS World Congress in Vienna.

This agreement sets the framework for an exchange of TISA Specifications between the two communities with the aim of harmonising protocols in the areas of common interest. More specifically, it is intended that GENIVI will re-use and implement in its Interfaces the codes already defined in the Tables of the TPEG Specifications (standardised in the ISO/TS 21219 series) for all applications related to Traffic Information.

This agreement which involves the exchange of working documents at an early development stage was made possible jointly by Members of TISA and of the GENIVI Alliance who initially identified the need to join forces. Thomas Kusche commented: “This Liaison Agreement is an important milestone for the TISA community and for TPEG technology. It will facilitate the development of harmonised standards and, most importantly, the delivery of coherent Traffic Information to the end-user. It confirms that the Automotive Industry regards TPEG by as a well-established worldwide standard”.

For further information, contact Amaury Cornelis, TISA Coordinator.

About TISA (Traveller Information Services Association)

TISA is a market-driven membership association with worldwide scope, established as a not-for-profit company focussed on proactive implementation of traffic and travel information services and products based on existing standards, including primarily RDS-TMC and TPEG technologies. TISA Membership consists of Public and Private organisations along the whole value-chain of Traffic and Traveller Information Services.

About GENIVI

GENIVI® is a non-profit industry alliance committed to driving the broad adoption of an In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) open-source development platform. The alliance aims to align requirements, deliver reference implementations, offer certification programs, and foster a vibrant open-source IVI community.

Highlights from the 19th ITS World Congress second plenary

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:35:07 +0100

Plenary session 2 – converging technologies, converging mobility

“the internet of things and how ITS will take advantage”

Melinda Crane, Congress moderator, introduced the topic “Converging technologies, converging mobility”, giving examples of common transport frustrations - missing trains due to a late connection and having to take an expensive taxi ride for instance. Underlining the potential of ITS to meet these challenges, Mrs Crane introduced the panel:

Alice Tornquist, Vice President, Government Affairs, Qualcomm, USA
Andreas J.M. Ostendorf, Global Director Vehicle Homologation & Compliance / Vice President,Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering, Ford, Germany
Nathalie Leboucher, Smart Cities Programme Director, Orange Business Services, France
Per-Henrik Nielsen, Vice President & Global Head of Industry Specific Solutions, Ericsson AB, Denmark
Young-Soo Park, Director, ITS &Road Environment Division, Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, Korea
Adam Game, CEO, Intelematics, Australia

Mrs Crane started the ball rolling by asking Mrs Tornquist how smart phones would affect transport and ITS in particular. Mrs Tornquist said “the smart phone is an iconic technology, which has come to define our times", pointing out that now, over 1 billion are in use, and that this would increase rapidly. Mrs Tornquist stressed how ubiquitous smart phones will become and that they would affect every aspect of live, not just transport.

Mrs Crane then asked Mrs Tornquist where the potential obstacles to ITS deployment were. Mrs Tornquist emphasised the high potential of ITS. She stressed that it is important to focus on investments which have public utility but also a return on investment for all concerned. Barriers to the penetration of ITS is regulatory clarity, funding and spectrum availability. Mr Ostendorf gave a brief introduction ahead of a video message from the Ford CEO Alan Roger Mulally. Mr Mulally gave an overview of the infrastructure changes needed to fully implement ITS.

Mr Mulally stated that the mountains of data that cars provide will no longer be contained, but shared, enabling denser driving and semi-autonomous driving such as platooning. Furthermore, cars will be plugged into databases, allowing multimodal options when congestion is high, leading to less accidents. Mr Mulally believes that by 2025 this vision will be a reality, as “already they are being designed and tested”

"Pedestrians, bikes, cars, as well as commercial vehicles, will all be woven together"

"If we work together, I'm confident that we can provide a brighter future for all"

Mrs Crane also asked Mr Ostendorf about the Ford SYNC. As Mr Ostendorf put it, the SYNC was invented to enable voice activated systems. He highlighted a number of idiosyncrasies in different countries illustrating the utility of these systems, for example the fact that in Europe it is generally illegal to use your mobile while driving, whereas you are allowed to type into your navigation device – and that in the US it was the other way around.

A voice activated system bypasses these dangers, although the number of European languages posed a challenge. Mr Ostendorf pointed out that 50% of people admitted that they type text messages while driving, and that 90% of those admitted it was dangerous. The next step for SYNC will be to read text messages out loud for the driver... then understand and transcribe a reply. Where this would leave text speak is unknown. Mrs Leboucher said that ITS is a building block, and highlighted the Smart City initiative in this regard.

Mrs Leboucher also noted that more devices will soon be connected than people – “and our cellular networks are ready”. Usage has already moved from voice to data, and orange has witnessed user demand for real time connectivity. Mrs Leboucher went on to underline some important changes in consumer behaviour, including: the rise of social networks and crowd sourcing, a vital consideration for new systems from ownership to use – it is no longer necessary to own a car to have use of a car Mrs Leboucher also underlined that “a connected car will stay a car, not a smart phone on wheels".

ICT technology is an enabler, but the car makers are key, they will still make the car... In the longer term, Mrs Leboucher endorsed V2X, but recognised the challenges. Standards open data systems and availability, and most of all business models need to progress - who will pay for these services? Orange, according to Mrs Leboucher, believes in cross industry partnership and collaboration. Mr Nielsen noted that Erikson has a vision of "Networked Society" - everything will be connected, empowering the consumer, bringing sustainability. He also explained how the data industry is converging with the car industry, but cars last a decade, whereas apps last months.

In practical terms, if an OS needs upgrading every year, the car will need to handle this. Likewise, regarding electric cars, if you go to a friend’s house, plug in the car to recharge, the bill should be sent to you automatically.

"It is not the technology that is the challenge, but to create the right ecosystem"

Mrs Crane then asked Mr Nielsen about people’s willingness to put data in the cloud, citing possible privacy concerns for example. Mr Nielsen answered that the ease of use - when the software is remote, it is also transferable to new devices, there are no viruses, easy upgrades – would be the deciding factor. he also forcefully reminded delegates of the example of the music industry, and how it almost was destroyed by changing technology and consumer patterns.

iTunes created a new business model, the traditional music industry turned its back – and took a decade to recover. Transport must be flexible to new business models. Mr Park in his case noted that "convergence is a key word in modern society, applied in every industry". Mr Park gave an overview of ITS situation in Korea, examples of popular apps, such as Soeul bus (giving real time bus info including Twitter share function) etc. Mr Park underlined that ITS supports government policy, not the other way around. Mr Game examined the root causes of convergence. He explained that "the smart phone is the catalyst for consumer adoption of ITS".

The smart phone creates the ecosystem - the content, the communication technologies, the business models, and most importantly, the consumer acceptance of their location being known, of always being connected. Mr Game claimed that this will create organically funded infrastructure, meeting policy objectives traditionally and erroneously seen as only feasible through legislative push.

This means policy makers will lose control. Mr Game gave an interesting example from Australia where motoring clubs are deploying an app giving driving behaviour feedback and coaching, so you can measure safe and green driving outcomes. This accelerates traditional policy goals - quite independently. Mrs Crane then asked Mr Game about the ITS World Congress in 2016, to be held in Melbourne, and the prospects for the next four years.

Mr Game noted that four years ago, mobile technology hardly existed in today’s sense (the iPhone was launched in June 2007!), so he couldn’t make a prediction over the next four year cycle! Mr Game did however extol the virtues of Australia as an ITS test bed, with very advanced ITS tech being deployed on a commercial level. He encouraged companies to join in and invited all to Melbourne in 2016.

Melinda Crane intoduces the day's topic of discussiojn	The audience
Left to right:Adam Game, Young-Soo Park, Per-Henrik Nielsen, Nathalie Leboucher, Andreas J.M. Ostendor, Alice Tornquist	The panel

Highlights from the 19th ITS World Congress first plenary

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 10:23:49 +0100

Plenary session 1 – smarter on the way: today’s achievements, tomorrow’ ambitions

The first plenary session of the 19th ITS World Congress took place just after the opening ceremony and the ITS Hall of Fame awards. Focussing on the Congress theme – “smarter on the way” – and examining “today’s achievements, tomorrow’s ambitions”. Hosted by Melinda Crane, a journalist at DWTV and moderator at the Stockholm ITS World Congress and the Lyon European ITS Congress, the plenary examined the goal of citizens having at all times access to, and benefiting from, the most reliable, efficient and widespread intelligent mobility solutions.

Joining Mrs Crane were:

Siim Kallas, Vice-President and Commissioner responsible for Transport, European Commission,
Georg Kapsch, CEO, Kapsch TrafficCom AG, Austria
Scott Belcher, President and CEO, ITS America
Greg Winfree, Deputy Administrator, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, USA
Zhongze Wu, Chairman, ITS China
Bambang Susantono, Vice Minister, Ministry of Transportation/President, ITS Indonesia, Indonesia

The first question put to the panel was to describe how ITS solutions are already shaping transport solutions.

Vice-President Kallas answered first, “I could list many large (EU co-funded) projects having an impact on transport solutions, but I would like to underline one – SafeSeaNet”. Vice-President Kallas explained how SafeSeaNet helps meet maritime, trade and environmental challenges, as well as contributing to the fight against piracy.

Mr Kapsch noted that he could list many solutions given that ITS is now truly being deployed, but underlined the proven power of electronic toll collection (ETC) systems, now deployed all around the world, in raising revenue and easing traffic flow.

Mr Belcher for his part pointed to the huge progress in the “global movement to connected vehicle systems”.

Mr Winfree stressed that for RITA safety remained the number one priority. According to Mr Winfree, ITS has helped move from a fatal accidents to “accidents where you can walk away”, and now the challenge was to deploy accident avoidance technologies. In this regard, he underlined the potential of V2V technologies.

Mr Wu gave an overview of China’s progress in the last ten years, and stressed the importance of ITS in the Beijing Olympic Games and Shanghai World Expo in managing crowds and traffic.

Mr Susantono noted that ITS was already a successful industry in Indonesia, agreed with Mr Kapsch about the importance of ETC, and also stressed integrated multi-modal public transport ticketing systems, already deployed in even medium sized Indonesian cities.

Mrs Crane then asked Vice-President Kallas about the political will, organisation and resources needed to deploy ITS – in the panel’s opinion, what could realistically be achieved?

Vice-President Kallas light-heartedly noted that he had only two and a half years left in his term, but that he saw three challenges – “Deployment, deployment, deployment”

Mr Kapsch was asked what the public sector wanted. Agreeing with Vice-President Kallas insofar as deployment had to have a purpose, Mr Kapsch said “ETC will foster the implementation of ITS” and will help roll-out and encourage investment and volume.

Mr Belcher noted the importance of partnership, especially in a time of economic constraint which also gives rise to opportunity. In this regard, he noted that all stakeholders needed each other, and that ITS deployment could not happen off the back of taxation, it needs new models, such as ETC.

Mr Winfree was asked what the safe vehicle of the future would be like. He noted that in the past 50 years huge progress had been made... for vehicle occupants. ITS and connected vehicles went beyond protecting vehicle occupants, aiming to prevent accidents in the first place. Mr Winfree also noted that “without rapid deployment, we cannot achieve our goals”.

Mrs Crane asked Mr Wu how ITS could help megacities mobile. Mr Wu highlighted the importance of increased infrastructure spending, encluding ITS, new transport technologies, including passenger management, and finally the coordination of different modes.

Asked about the main priorities of ITS deployment, Mr Susantono stressed not only the importance of choosing teh correct technology, but also that care had to be taken to avoid being locked in with one system. Finally, he underlined that any ITS implementation and to be in line with overall technology. “ITS must be affordable, an open platform, system based yet human – easy to use, fix and develop”

Left to right: Bambang Susantono,Zhongze Wu, Greg Winfree, Scott Belcher, Georg Kapsch, Siim Kallas	Scott Belcher replies
Greg Winfree takes the stage	Bambang Susantono responds

2012 ITS World Congress, Vienna

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:35:55 +0100

Intelligent Transport Systems and Services showcased in Vienna

Vienna, 22 October 2012. Today, the 19th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS) in Vienna kicked off, under the theme “Smarter on the way”. Over five days, over 300 exhibitors and 10000 participants from more than 90 countries worldwide will attend this annual meeting point of transport executives from around the globe. Held in Europe once every three years, the Congress showcases the latest ITS products and services and share high-tech transport insights.

Siim Kallas, Vice-President European Commission: "An efficient, reliable and sustainable transport system is at the heart of Europe's competitiveness. Intelligent Transport systems, and innovation in technology and services are key enablers for tomorrow's integrated European transport system. Today's priority is to speed up and coordinate ITS deployment. For that, a close relationship with industry partners and relevant public stakeholders is essential - a message that the ITS World Congress strongly reinforces."

Intelligent Transport Systems and Services are the integration of information and communication technologies in various transport modes. Examples of these include high-tech technologies enabling vehicles to cooperate and “talk” to each other, electronic tolling solutions, advanced driver assistance systems, real time traffic and travel information services and advanced safety systems. The continuing goal of the World ITS Congress is to promote awareness and deployment of these promising technologies for all transport modes. Of particular interest is the fact that the Congress already “lives” ITS - the "Kongressnavigator" app offers real-time multi-modal traveller information services, a ticketing tool and also allows you to arrange your personal congress agenda! Available for iPhone, Android and Mobile Web.

Doris Bures, Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology (Austria), said “Vienna is a great choice for the 19th ITS World Congress, being at the forefront of ITS R&D and deployment. What’s needed now is to implement ITS in real transport systems, because they constitute an important basis for multimodal yet individual mobility. This requires excellent cooperation between all players and technologies, and that brings us back to the idea of making the Congress more political. One way we’ll do this is with the Ministerial Round Table scheduled this afternoon. In this roundtable 13 Ministers, 5 Vice-Ministers and 15 high level political leaders from throughout the world will meet to develop recommendations for improving international cooperation. I am convinced this will be an important step towards better transnational collaboration.”

Speaking at the Congress Opening Ceremony, Jean Mesqui (ASFA), Chairman of ERTICO – ITS Europe said: “The ITS World Congresses are a vital means of promoting the efficacy and economy of ITS in achieving transport goals, working towards a world with zero accidents, zero delays, reduced impact on the environment, fully informed people where services are affordable and seamless, privacy respected and security ensured”

The ITS World Congress takes place 22-26 October at the Messe Wien, and comprises an exhibition area with over 300 companies, a congress with over 3000 delegates and 200 sessions exploring all aspects of transport grouped under six broad topics, state-of-the-art demonstrations including e-Mobility, cooperative systems and public transport, and many ancillary events. The European Commission is also fully participating at the ITS World Congress with a large exhibit, many speakers and its “Intelligent Transport Conference”.

For more information, please contact:

Henry Wasung

pr@mail.ertico.com

About ITS Congresses

To share knowledge and experience within the ITS community is seen as a must in the development and implementation of ITS technologies. In that regard, European and World Congresses provide the ideal opportunity for all players of the ITS world to come together and make the necessary contacts to help move initiatives forward. Over the years, they have also received the highest support throughout the ITS world from government, industry and other organisations.

ERTICO – ITS Europe, ITS America and ITS Japan work closely together in the preparation of the annual ITS World Congress and Exhibition attracting people. Each year the event takes place in a different region, and it is held in Europe every third year. Valuable support is also provided by the host region, including by the national ITS association of the country. European ITS Congresses that bring together over 1500 people are organised by ERTICO – ITS Europe in years when there is not an ITS World Congress in Europe. In 2013, the World ITS Congress will take place in Tokyo, Japan, and the European ITS Congress in Dublin, Ireland.

Dublin:http://www.itsineurope.com/

Japan: http://www.itsworldcongress.jp

About ITS and ERTICO

ERTICO – ITS Europe is a multi-sector, public/private partnership pursuing the development and deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS). We connect public authorities, industry players, infrastructure operators, users, national ITS associations and other organisations together and work to bring “Intelligence into Mobility”.

The ERTICO work programme focuses on initiatives to improve road safety, security and network efficiency whilst taking into account measures to reduce environmental impact. Our vision is of a future transport system working towards zero accidents, zero delays and fully informed people, where services are affordable and seamless, the environment is protected, privacy is respected and security is provided.

About BMVIT, the hosts of the 2012 ITS World Congress

BMVIT (Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology) hosts the ITS World Congress in Vienna. In the last ten years the Ministry invests 100 Mio in Research and Development of Intelligent Transport Systems and Electromobility. The Austrian ITS Action Plan is mainly influenced by the European Commission’s Transport White Paper and sets forth a vision for using ITS in three priority areas: safety, efficiency, and environment. ITS must help to achieve “vision zero” goal in each of these areas. ITS must help to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries, ITS must help to provide smooth and uninterrupted traffic flow even in dense traffic, a vision that includes considering how to optimise traffic between modes, and, finally, ITS must help to reduce emissions and negative environmental impacts.

Highlights from the ITS Hall of Fame at the 19th ITS World Congress

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:43:37 +0200

Established in 2010, the ITS Hall of Fame Awards is granted every year to three influential personalities in the three regions Europe, Americas and Asia-Pacific.

The recipients of the awards are selected based on their standard of leadership in transport technology. Each person has served an outstanding, lifelong career dedicated to organisational leadership in the field and thought leadership contributing to the vision of intelligent transport systems.

The winner for the Americas this year was Gerald Conover, PRC Associates, USA. Mr Conover noted that ITS is still a very young industry, but that after only 20 years, ITS is deployed, and it works – “ITS is in the hands of the public – through mobile phones”

Gerald Conover - “To be recognised by one’s peers for one’s lifetime’s work is very moving”

Xiaojing Wang, China National ITS Centre, China, was the winner for the Asia-Pacific region. Mr Wang highlighted the progress in China in recent years and that in big cities, “ITS is a powerful tool for traffic management”. Mr Wang also highlighted the importance of international cooperation for the success of ITS deployment.

Xiaojing Wang - “Today China has made great achievements in ITS”

Finally, Fotis Karamitsos, DG Move, European Commission and 2010 winner of the ITS Hall of Fame, accepted the European award on behalf of the late Job Klijnhout, Rijkswaterstaat, The Netherlands, with a very moving and personal speech. Mr Karamitsos paid tribute to Mr Klijnhout as “a pioneer, a innovator, a giant in the field”. An obituary by Eric Sampson, “A Farewell to a Renaissance Man”, can be read here.

Fotis Karamitsos - “Job was an inspiration to many, a source of wisdom to all - and a friend of many in this room”

Highlights from the Opening Ceremony of the 19th ITS World Congress

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:17:18 +0200

The 19th ITS World Congress kicked off on Monday 22 October with a beautiful opening ceremony and high level keynote addresses. Read on for a flavour of the proceedings...

Doris Bures, Austrian Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology welcomed delegates, drawing attention to the charms and delights of Vienna, consistently ranked one of best cities to live - and how has this been achieved? Minister Bures highlighted one important aspect, that "more trips are made using public transport than cars", contributing to a better quality of life with less congestion, less pollution and more efficient travelling.

Doris Bures, Austrian Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology

“The answer can’t be to build more roads – rather, we must develop new transport technologies"

"ITS can do more than save lives, it can also reduce environmental burdens, reduce congestion and so on"

"My expectations of the Congress are that it will bring additional impetus to the very dynamic development of ITS"

Siim Kallas, Vice-President and Commissioner responsible for Transport

Siim Kallas, Vice-President and Commissioner responsible for Transport, thanked ERTICO and the Austrian hosts for all their work in putting the Congress together, and paid tribute to the many demonstrations, clearly showing that the potential of ITS to mitigate the negative impacts of transport is already here and available. Speaking more generally, Vice-President Kallas underlined that the challenge now was to combine the many different national and European research projects into a coherent whole so that ITS could be deployed in a seamless manner. the full speech can be read here.

Jean Mesqui, Chairman of the ERTICO supervisory board

Jean Mesqui, Chairman of the ERTICO supervisory board, thanked Vice-President Kallas and Minister Bures for their patronage and for the ministerial round table, “it is a huge success to have it here with 13 Ministers, 5 Vice-Ministers and 15 high level political leaders coming together to develop recommendations for improving international cooperation”

Mr Mesqui reminded the audience of the aim of the Congress, “five days sharing energy, competences, motivation and good will to move ITS forward - why? The iMobility Forum estimates that between 2011 and 2020, the deployment of ITS can reduce road fatalities by 30%, meaning 10000 lives saved, can reduce serious injuries by 30%, lessen congestion by 15%, and increase energy efficiency by 20%”

Mr Mesqui emphasised that we all share the common goal to make these estimates come true, and the way to do so was interoperable, secure and reliable ITS with viable business models for industry and consumers alike.

Echoing Vice-President Kallas, Mr Mesqui said “ERTICO has many projects and initiatives to achieve this common goal - time now to bring them together in cooperation with the European Commission"

Yasuhiko Wakai, Parliamentary Vice-Minister, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

Yasuhiko Wakai, Parliamentary Vice-Minister, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan expressed his sincere congratulations on the opening of the Congress, emphasising that “transport systems are an indispensible part of modern society". Mr Wakai highlighted the potential of ITS as a solution to common challenges. Mr Wakai invited delegates to the 20th ITS World Congress in Tokyo in 2013. ITS Tokyo, under the theme "open ITS to the next", will demonstrate how ITS is entering a new phase that will accurately reflect the mobility needs and desires of the of next generation.

“Traffic accidents and congestion have been the focus up to now – that will change”

Peter Sweatman, Chairman of ITS America

Peter Sweatman, Chairman of ITS America, congratulated the organisers of the Vienna Congress, and underlining that attending this year was one of largest American delegations at a Congress outside of the US. "We are coming together strongly to promote the deployment of ITS in all regions" Mr Sweatman underlined, pointing out that the theme of the 18th ITS World Congress at Orlando, "keeping the economy moving", lent itself nicely to this year’s theme of " smarter on the way". Mr Sweatman said that he particularly looked forward to exchanging ideas with peers from Asia and Europe.

"the beauty of Vienna is timeless - but we can't let the deployment of ITS be likewise - time is of the essence"

ERTICO joins €1.5m ‘iMobility Challenge’ consortium to promote safe, smart and clean mobility

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:05:10 +0200

iMobility Challenge, a new EU project which will demonstrate the benefits of safe, smart and clean mobility through new Intelligent Transport System (ITS) solutions, kicked off at the FIA Region I office in Brussels on 11 October 2012. iMobility Challenge has a budget of €1.5m and runs from 1 October 2012 – 30 September 2014. See Notes to the Editor for more details on project partners and goals.

“We are very excited to participate in the iMobility Challenge consortium. Through iMobility Challenge, we can make important steps towards realising ITS to the benefit of end-users, decision-makers, the research community and industry”, said Hermann Meyer, ERTICO CEO.

“The iMobility Challenge will help to bring safer, smarter and cleaner mobility solutions to European citizens” said FIA Region I Director General, Jacob Bangsgaard. “The European Commission’s goal for our mobility sector of zero accidents, zero delays, and zero environmental impact, can be achieved if we use intelligent mobility solutions effectively.”

The project will support the European Commission’s iMobility Forum ambitious goals for ITS for the period 2011 to 2020 through demonstrations targeted at the public, professionals, and decision-makers. These goals include:

A 30% reduction in the number of fatalities across Europe
A 30% reduction in the number of seriously injured persons across Europe
A 15% reduction of road traffic related congestion
A 20% improvement in energy-efficiency
A 50% increase in the availability of real time traffic and travel information

The iMobility Challenge will deploy the appeal of celebrity motorsport drivers to reach public audiences, whilst also offering the public the opportunity to test drive new systems for themselves. Further goals of the project include:

User awareness campaigns
Support studies documenting the socioeconomic impact and benefits of iMobility systems
The provision of basic training to users through awareness events

Notes to the Editor:

About iMobility Challenge

The iMobility Challenge aims at demonstrating, promoting and boosting the deployment of ICT systems for efficient and sustainable mobility. The benefits of ICT systems for efficient and sustainable mobility should be better disseminated to end-users, decision-makers, the research community and industry. The added value of iMobility Challenge will be to raise awareness of such benefits among those distinct target groups.

iMobility Challenge also aims at paving the way for the new generation of connected cars, which are able to communicate with one another, as well as infrastructure in a real traffic environment, to provide a whole new array of services to consumers.

Project Partners:
Coordinator: Fédération International de l’Automobile (FIA)

Association des Constructeurs Européen d'Automobiles (ACEA)
Comité de Liaison de la construction d'Equipements et de Pièces d'Automobiles CLEPA
European Road Transport Telematics Implementation Coordination Organisation (ERTICO)
Teknologian Tutkimuskeskus (VTT)

Project Timeline: 1 October 2012 - 30 September 2014
Project cost: € 1,550,525.00
Project website: www.iMobilityChallenge.eu

The declared objectives of iMobility Challenge are:

To promote the deployment and use of intelligent vehicle systems for energy efficient and sustainable mobility, with a particular focus on cooperative systems (car-to-car; car-to-infrastructure communication)
To support the implementation process for priority iMobility systems, notably as directed by EU legislation
To organise iMobility awareness raising events for policy makers with vehicle demonstrations, and national awareness events for users with demonstrations, driving experiences and training open to the public
To conduct support studies documenting the socio-economic impact of iMobility systems throughout the project, through a mapping of systems and of products and services based on cooperative systems; and by assessing consumer awareness and demand, and their feedback before and after testing systems

For more information, please contact Lina Konstantinopoulou, Project Manager

Join Commissioner Neelie Kroes for the 2012 iMobility Awards Ceremony at ITS Vienna 2012

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:41:55 +0200

2012 iMobility Awards - Rewarding excellence in deployment of iMobility Systems

The iMobility Awards provide an invaluable opportunity to highlight the successes of the most outstanding, ambitious and innovative iMobility deployments and to reward those people and organisations most worthy of recognition and praise. Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, will present the 2012 iMobility Awards to the three winners in the categories: industry/technology, policy, and national/local ITS implementation.

The second edition of the iMobility Awards Ceremony will be held on Friday, 26 October 2012, at 11.00, at the iMobility Forum stand (C30) at the 19th ITS World Congress in Vienna.

iMobility Awards Policy Award Nominees	iMobility Awards Industry / Technology Award Nominees	iMobility Awards National / Local ITS Implementation Award Nominees
European Commission IFSTTAR Rijkwaterstaat	Nokia Imtech/Peek TNO Hess Consult	Public Ridesharing Portal UNIQA Safeline AFSINA

View full information on the nominees here.

For more information, please contact:
iCar Support team
http://www.icarsupport.eu/

Come to meet TISA Community at the ITS World Congress!

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:16:25 +0200

For the second year, TISA has an independent stand at the ITS Congress where visitors can meet and exchange ideas with TISA Members. If you want to experience a variety of demonstrations including iBiquity, GEWI, INRIX, Continental and Fraunhofer, TISA stand (E40) is the place to be!

TISA Member bmt – Bayerische Medien Techniek GmbH will present their TPEG know-who with playout and analysis tools while the world's first TPEG2-ADT based client will demonstrate TPEG2 technology in combination with public transport.

Don't miss the TISA-EasyWay joint demonstrator on DATEX-TPEG interoperability where the end-to-end connectivity of the traffic information value chain will be shown.

Come to have a look at the BMW series 1 convertible! The demos will show what TPEG Applications can offer to the drivers in terms of real-time traffic event information.

Finally, a session entirely dedicated to TPEG (SIS60 - Room Lehar 1) is organised on Thursday 25 October. At the session, moderated by TISA Executive Director, Bev Marks, attendees will have a closer look at the development and standardisation of the TPEG protocol up to now.

We look forward to seeing you at the TISA Stand (E40)!

DRIVE C2X at ITS World Congress

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:31:20 +0200

Demo shows: cooperative driving ready for deployment

DRIVE C2X powers the joint cooperative mobility demonstration by CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium and Testfeld Telematik at the ITS World Congress in Vienna.

Using communication technology to send warnings and useful information directly from vehicle to vehicle, or between vehicles and the roadside infrastructure, is no longer science fiction. Getting the current speed limit transmitted directly and wirelessly to one’s dashboard, receiving a warning before one can see the tail end of a traffic jam, learning about bad weather or obstacles on the road from the vehicles that first notice them, are among the various functions that can make driving safer, greener and more efficient. The Vienna demonstration, powered by DRIVE C2X technology, illustrates how close to deployment cooperative driving is.

A major step to a safe and smart mobility

Cooperative driving is the vision that traffic and transportation can become safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly if vehicles communicate with each other and the roads they are moving on. Then they can exchange information, warnings and advisories about weather, road and traffic conditions. For instance, a vehicle approaching the end of a traffic jam can warn all following drivers in real time about the hazard, a construction site can signal its position to approaching vehicles and advise them on possible speed limits and lane blockages, or when approaching a traffic light drivers receive recommendations on the optimal speed in order to pass without a stop. Cooperative driving marks the next major step to a safe and smart mobility. A real-time and comprehensive Car2X communication network leads to a significant increase in the predictive capability of vehicles and in the value of driving information systems.

The DRIVE C2X reference system: a common ‘language’

To make this happen, a common language needs to be developed together with a suitable technological platform. DRIVE C2X, a project co-funded by the European Commission DG CONNECT, takes a big step towards this goal. The reference system developed in DRIVE C2X is a prototype for a European Car2X communication system. The system consists of software functions for wireless transmission of information and warnings and the necessary hardware units in the vehicles and on the roadside. The communication system is based on the ITS standards currently under completion by the ETSI Technical Committee ITS. The DRIVE C2X reference system uses WLAN-related technology communicating at 5.9 GHz, the frequency band that is reserved Europe-wide exclusively for vehicle safety applications. Currently the reference system is being implemented at seven European ITS test sites, where its impact on traffic safety and efficiency will be evaluated in closed-track conditions and on public roads. The DRIVE C2X reference system makes it possible for the first time to create a harmonised testing environment for cooperative systems across Europe. Harmonization is necessary to make test results comparable under the different circumstances that occur within Europe. This is an important step to give decision-makers in industry and public authorities the much-needed certainty about the benefits of cooperative driving – and crucial for investing in the deployment of such systems.

Real-life driving demonstration at the ITS World Congress 2012 in Vienna powered by DRIVE C2X technology

Recently validated for its performance the DRIVE C2X reference system will power the joint cooperative mobility demonstration at the ITS World Congress 2012 in Vienna from 22 to 26 October. This joint demonstration, conducted by the European CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium (C2C-CC) and Austria’s Testfeld Telematik (TT), will prove that cooperative driving is mature for deployment on Europe’s urban and interurban roads and delivers on its promise to make driving safer, more convenient and more environmentally friendly.

“The use of the DRIVE C2X reference system in the joint driving demo shows the outreach of the DRIVE C2X developments on European level and beyond, and will create a significant push towards the deployment of cooperative communication systems as they are currently standardised in ETSI Technical Committee ITS”, says Matthias Schulze, Senior Manager Driver Support at Daimler AG and coordinator of DRIVE C2X.

The demonstration gives a worldwide audience an in-depth view of the technology on public roads. In a 30-minute demonstration tour they will experience how the vehicles and infrastructure elements warn each other of potential traffic hazards or provide information on speed limits or optimal driving speed. On display is also the new interface which shows three levels of notification, depending on the urgency of the situation, from advisory to alert. In addition to the demonstration, visitors can also get a view of the data collection and test management process and monitor the movement of the demonstration vehicles on the road at the DRIVE C2X test management center, installed at the DRIVE C2X stand of the European Commission exhibition area (Hall B, C20).

DRIVE C2X: a cooperation of many different stakeholders

DRIVE C2X is a research project that brings together car manufacturers, research institutes, authorities and information technology providers to provide a pan-European reference for the communication among vehicles and between vehicles and the infrastructure. The project started in 2011 with 33 full partners and 13 support partners coordinated by Daimler AG and will end in June 2014. It has an overall budget of 18.6 million Euros, with 12.4 million Euros funding from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) under the seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for research and technological development

With its seven associated European ITS test sites in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, DRIVE C2X lays the foundation for rolling out cooperative systems in Europe.

The DRIVE C2X consortium consists of the automotive manufacturers Adam Opel, Audi, BMW Forschung und Technik*, Centro Ricerche Fiat, Daimler AG, Ford Forschungszentrum Aachen, Honda Research Institute Europe*, Peugeot Citroën Automobiles, Renault, Volvo Personenvagnar, Yamaha Motor*; the electronics and automotive suppliers Continental*, Delphi Delco Electronics Europe, Denso Automotive Deutschland*, Hitachi Europe, Neavia Technologies, NEC Europe, Renesas Technology Europe, Robert Bosch*; the software developers Testing Technologies*, Vector Informatik*, Ygomi Europe; the traffic engineers PTV Planung Transport Verkehr; the universities and research institutes Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen, Centro Tecnológico de Automoción de Galicia, Chalmers University, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Facit Research, Fraunhofer Institute FOKUS, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Saarland*, Institut français des sciences et technologies des transports, de l'aménagement et des réseaux, Institut Nationale de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique, Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Technische Universität Graz, The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, Universitatea Tehnica Cluj-Napoca, University of Surrey, VTT – Technical Research Centre of Finland; the road operators Autostrada del Brennero, City of Tampere*, Hessen Mobil – Road and Traffic Management, Rijkswaterstaat – Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment*; as well as the partners EICT, ERTICO – ITS Europe, ETSI Centre for Testing and Interoperability*, and Nokian Renkaat* (*support partners).

For more information, visit DRIVE C2X website.

ISA Resolution adopted in Flemish Parliament

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:50:35 +0200

On 3 October the Flemish Parliament adopted a resolution asking the Flemish government to progress ISA as a priority measure to tackle speeding and reduce deaths and serious injuries on Flemish roads. The resolution is an initiative of seven Flemish Members of Parliament; Steve D’Hulster, Jan Roegiers, Dirk de Korten, Karin Brouwers, Lies Jans, Tine Eerlingen en Griet Smaers. The ISA resolution recognises the successful pilot projects completed in Belgium. They ask the Flemish government to progress with enabling the use of digital maps for ISA. They also recommend that ISA is implemented in the vehicle fleet of the Flemish government. They also support its integration into the EU ITS policy framework. They ask that the government reports annually to the Flemish parliament on progress within the context of the road safety plan. Finally they stress the need to continue to raise awareness about the risks associated with speed and the role ISA can play. A further resolution initiative along the same lines is also being launched in the Belgian Federal Parliament.

Click here to read the Resolution.

Meet the iMobility Forum team at the ITS World Congress

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:46:14 +0200

Meet us at the iMobility Forum Stand (C30)

Established in 2003 by the European Commission, the iMobility Forum is a joint platform open for all road stakeholders interested in ICT-based systems and services. It is the official successor to the eSafety Forum.

This year, we will manage to give the maximum visibility to the iMobility Forum thanks to the 19th ITS World Congress. From 23 to 26 October 2012, the iMobility Forum stand will host its ‘Let’s Lunch’ and coffee break sessions on its stand (C30).

Whilst enjoying our morning savours & complimentary lunch, visitors will have the opportunity to discuss with iMobility Forum Working Group representatives the latest achievements and challenges of European mobility.

Time	Tuesday 23/10/2012	Wednesday 24/10/2012	Thursday 25/10/2012	Friday 26/10/2012
10:30	Implementation Road Maps WG	eCoMove project	iCar Support - Standardisation session
11:00	-	-	-	iMobility Forum Awards 2012 ceremony
12:30	Research & Innovation WG session Click here to watch the video	ICT for Clean & Efficient Mobility WG session Click here to watch the video	Digital Maps WG session Click here to watch the video	Vulnerable Road Users WG session Click here to watch the video
15:30	eCall Demo	smartCEM pilot	FOTNET 2 project

The stand will not only act as the information centre for the iMobility forum activities but also for other project related activities. All day long, demonstrations by European projects will allow you to discover the latest technological developments in ITS, and project presentations will further introduce the challenges ahead.

HeERO project partners (Italian pilot site and Cinterion a Gemalto Company) will demonstrate how EU eCall works with the exhibition of a real eCall equipped car, HeERO-I and HeERO-II EU eCall compliant IVS solutions and through demonstrations of regular 112 EU eCall and 112 EU eCall in the so-called dormant mode – where the device will connect to the mobile network only in case of a 112 EU eCall, based on usage of a dormant MIM (MIM = automotive grade SIM).

Finally, on Friday 26 October (11:00 a.m.), the 2012 iMobility Awards will be given out by Vice-President and European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes to the people/teams who have made outstanding contributions to the acceleration of the development and deployment of ITS in Europe.

Meet us at the iMobility Forum Stand (C30)!!!

iCar Support Coordinator

Lina Konstantinopoulou, ERTICO – ITS EUROPE

For further information, please visit www.icarsupport.eu

All iMobility Forum activities are regularly monitored, supported and disseminated by iCar Support. Coordinated by ERTICO – ITS Europe, together with the participation of European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), Q-Free, DEKRA, YGOMI and VTT, iCar Support is a three-year European Support Action funded under the Seventh Framework Programme.

Intelligent Car Support aims to support the implementation of actions and recommendations resulting from the work of the iMobility Forum and the Intelligent Car Initiative. This includes support to the iMobility Forum and its constituencies, including its Working Groups and Task Forces, strengthening the iMobility cooperation among stakeholders, support the development of the Implementation Road Map for all iMobility systems, contribute to the implementation process of the European eCall system by supporting the European eCall Implementation Platform, support the i2010 initiative in particular the activities dealing with user outreach and deployment of smarter, safer and cleaner vehicles in the future.

Exhibitor Focus

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:32:06 +0200

The ERTICO Partnership at ITS Vienna

ITS United Kingdom
Stand: D71
ITS United Kingdom attend the ITS World Congress there along with their Members TRL, Mouchel, Navtech Radar, Mott MacDonald, IET, IBI, innovITS ADVANCE, Techspan, and Image Sensing Systems Europe. The UK has a great deal of experience in the design and implementation of ITS systems, and ITS United Kingdom hope many visitors to the Congress will come along and put that to the test. They will be sure of a warm and well informed welcome, with a guaranteed follow up after the event.

Egis
Stand: D52
With 12000 employees worldwide and a turnover of €858 million in 2011, Egis is a consulting and engineering group working across multiple sectors including transport, urban development, and the environment. In the Intelligent Transportation Systems industry, Egis provide engineering services and project support, from mobility and traffic studies to on-site supervision through project-oriented, multi-disciplinary teams.

Their stand at the 2012 ITS World Congress focuses on their principal ITS consultancy and engineering services for road operations.

Honda
Stand: A31
Honda take part in the Congress with an exhibition stand which will bring you the latest information on Honda’s ITS activities in Europe, Japan and the United States. You can also find Honda at the joint Car2Car – TT consortium demonstration with an ITS equipped Honda Insight and an ITS Honda motorcycle (an NC700X).

The Honda stand will showcase ITS safety technologies and vehicles, green ITS and comfort ITS. The safety area will cover vehicle-2-X communication for cars and motorcycles, both with real vehicles, as well as simulations of safety applications based on the European DRIVE C2X project, which you can experience for yourself on the Honda Cooperative car and motorcycle simulators.

Cubic Transportation Systems
Stand: B30
Cubic has developed a vision for keeping the world on the move into the future, which they call Nextcity and elements of the technology behind Nextcity will be on show at Congress. Nextcity articulates Cubic’s view of how ITS of the future will work, based solidly on its experience of providing integrated transport solutions to many of the world’s largest cities – including London, New York, Brisbane and Chicago.

The world is changing, and Cubic invites you to see how Nextcity will harness emerging and proven technology to transform the way we travel.

Orange
Stand: E51
By 2020, more than 50 billion devices are expected to be connected to each other. In this increasingly interconnected world, people, systems and machines can interact in truly revolutionary ways.

Orange address mobility challenges as a whole and believe that the M2M and NFC technologies have the potential to reinvent the car and transportation services offerings and the way users experience it.

Logica
Stand E50
Logica, now a part of CGI, are leading the way in large scale deployments of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and services, shaping the future of ITS with their clients and their involvement with ERTICO, National ITS organisations, and their innovation centres.

They have been a driving force of the ITS Congress for many years now, and in Vienna they will be demonstrating some of their key projects and innovations. You are invited to join them and to talk with their industry experts where they will also be running a fantastic competition to enable you to win a brand new iPhone5!

Q-Free
Stand: F60
Q-Free is a leading global supplier of products and solutions for Road User Charging and Advanced Transportation Management. Please join them at their innovative stand where they will show their products and solutions. For more information visit www.q-free.com and Twitter @Q-FreeASA

Siemens Mobility and Logistics
Stand A10
Growing traffic flows are causing great difficulties, especially in conurbations. Intelligent traffic information and management systems help to reduce traffic jams, accidents and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 20 percent.

Under the motto "Smarter on the way", Siemens Mobility and Logistics will be showcasing new products and solutions for intelligent traffic solutions.

The Siemens press team will be on-hand throughout the Congress.

Robert Bosch GmbH
Stand: A20
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. In the areas of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology, more than 300,000 associates generated sales of 51.5 billion Euros in 2011. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and roughly 350 subsidiaries and regional companies in some 60 countries. With all of their products and services, Bosch aims to enhance quality of life by providing solutions which are both innovative and beneficial.

ITS Vienna 2012 Webinar - 2012 Best Papers

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:37:12 +0200

Presentations of the three winning authors are now available!

On Tuesday 16 October the winning authors of the Best Papers 2012 for Europe gave us a preview on their work that will present during the World Congress. The presentations from the three authors are now available for downloading.

Christopher Emmerson, Newcastle University
Winner of the Scientific Paper
“In-Vehicle Navigation Systems and Older Drivers”
Session TS062, Wednesday 24 October 2012 (16.00-17.30)

Mario Sattler, via donau
Joint-Winner of the Technical Paper
“Opening governmental traffic management infrastructure for the mutual benefits of authorities and logistics – River Information Services in Europe”
Session TS047, Wednesday 24 October 2012 (14.00-15.30)

Sébastien Mure, ERTICO – ITS Europe
Joint-Winner of the Technical Paper
“A guide for Pre-Commercial Procurement actors in ITS”
Session TS008, Tuesday 23 October 2012 (14.00-15.30)

The faces behind the stands

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:19:42 +0200

Meet the faces behind the stands!

Why did ADASIS decide to have a stand at Vienna?

Jean-Charles Pandazis, ADASIS Forum Coordinator: It is our 10th year anniversary, the ADASIS Forum was founded in May 2002 bringing together industrial partners vehicle manufacturers, ADAS suppliers, navigation systems suppliers and map/data providers in order to develop and implement the ADAS Horizon concept, extending ADAS capabilities and accelerating time-to-market.

What is going on at the stand? What are the highlights?

We will have two of our members presenting their products: Nokia Location & Commerce (formerly NAVTEQ) will present their Map and Positioning Engine™ (MPE) and Scania their newly introduced product Active Prediction™ system on a Smart table.

What are you personally looking forward to most at the Vienna Congress?

I am looking forward to meeting potential members, to explain what is behind this de facto industry standard and why this is an enabling technology for predictive map-based systems for safe and clean mobility. On the other hand the Congress will be great with all demos presented and Vienna is a great city that I am sure I will enjoy!

Why did eCoMove decide to have a stand at Vienna?

Julie Castermans, Project Support Manager: Two years into the project, we wanted to showcase the results achieved thus far and take advantage of this major event in the field of ITS to raise awareness about the potential of cooperative mobility systems and services for green efficiency purposes

What is going on at the stand? What are the highlights?

In a truck driving simulator, the visitor will experience eCoMove application-based scenarios for freight & logistics and see how much fuel reduction can be achieved
Sitting in one of our test vehicles equipped with innovative human-machine interface - including a haptic gas pedal - the visitor will receive live feedback based on a real life pre-recorded eco-driving scenario
Through an interactive surface table demonstration, the visitor will understand better eCoMove potential to reduce traffic inefficiencies and corresponding CO2 emissions at network but also private and professional vehicles’ levels

What are you personally looking forward to most at the Vienna Congress?

Meeting all the partners and stakeholders, the exciting planned activities (including the ball!) and the variety of demonstrations and interesting topics presented in the conference sessions

Why did iMobility forum through iCar Support decide to have a stand at Vienna?

iCar Support Coordinator, Lina Konstantinopoulou, and iCar Support media desk, Laetitia Fernandez: Thanks to the 19th ITS World Congress, it is a great opportunity to showcase the results of 10 working groups achieved so far and also manage at the same time to give the maximum visibility to the iMobility Forum.

What is going on at the stand? What are the highlights?

From 23 to 26 October 2012, the iMobility Forum stand will host its “Let’s Lunch” (12.30:13:15) and coffee break sessions on its stand (C30).

Whilst enjoying our morning savours & complimentary lunch and of course our demonstrations, visitors will have the opportunity to discuss with iMobility Forum Working Group representatives on their latest achievements and also learn on other project related activities like HeERO, Instant Mobility, CityLog.

Finally, the highlight of the week, on Friday 26 October (11:00 a.m.), the 2012 iMobility Awards will be given out by Vice-President and European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes.

What are you (both) personally looking forward to most at the Vienna Congress?

Meeting the Commissioner, Mrs Neelie Kroes, of course!

Why did TISA decide to have a stand at Vienna?

Amaury Cornelis, TISA Coordinator, and Stéphanie Chaufton, TISA Administrator: The European ITS Congress at Lyon in 2011 was the first time TISA had an independent stand at an ITS Congress, and it was a great success for TISA, and for our members. It was an easy decision to offer our membership the opportunity again this year, and a vote of confidence in the ITS Congress that more of our members reacted so positively.

What is going on at the stand? What are the highlights?

There really is a lot going on at the TISA stand, not to mention the various demonstrations elsewhere -iBiquity, GEWI, INRIX, Continental and Fraunhofer–ask us for details!

We have a TISA/EasyWay demo on demand, continuing our successful cooperation that began with last year’s MoU. This year just ask us about DATEX-TPEG interoperability!

TISA Member bmt – Bayerische Medien Techniek GmbH will present their TPEG know-who with playout and analysis tools. Furthermore the world's first TPEG2-ADT based client will demonstrate TPEG2 technology in combination with public transport.

And last, but not least, a BMW series 1 convertible will show what TPEG Applications can offer to the drivers in terms of real-time traffic event information.

What are you personally looking forward to most at the Vienna Congress?

Stéphanie Chaufton: Meeting the TISA members face-to-face once again! Over the years we have developed a very productive relationship and it is always good to see everybody. That’s also why I’m glad we are able to host TISA members on our stand – it’s just another way TISA is working for the benefit of its members. And finally... I’m very much looking forward to the BMW convertible demo!

Amaury Cornelis: I’m looking forward to a very successful event for TISA! We’ve all put a lot of work into Vienna, and I’m sure we will get even more out of it. Seeing TISA and EasyWay work together once again is also a pleasure... and I’m also looking forward to trying to waltz at the Gala dinner!

What is going on at the ERTICO stand? What are the highlights?

Anna Limbrey, Partnership Services Manager: The ERTICO stand will be, as is traditional, the best meeting and networking area in the Congress! And have the best coffee! We will also be showing all of the 53 videos entered into the 2012 ITS video competition, both on the large screen at the stand and also on the iPads available for your amusement. So if you have a few moments spare, I invite you to the ERTICO stand!

What are you personally looking forward to most at the Vienna Congress?

Meeting up with current ERTICO Partners, many of whom I have known for years – and of course the possibility of convincing potential new Partners to join!

Standardisation and Harmonsiation

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 10:59:32 +0200

ERTICO workshop unites the people who unite technology

Engineers, developers and designers across the world face a familiar problem: How can they deliver efficient and usable systems when they are working with technology that has been designed around different standards and different regional requirements?

ITS designers are no exception to this problem, and while the harmonisation of standards poses many challenges, it is an important process which contributes to faster and more efficient development, greater systems reliability and safety, and much easier market uptake. It makes interoperability possible and interoperability is essential in today’s interconnected world.

To tackle this problem ERTCIO will be running a specialised workshop at this year’s ITS Congress dedicated to ITS standardisation for harmonised and effective deployment.

The workshop takes place on Friday 26 October (9:00-10:30 Strauss 2) and ERTICO’s Director of Development and Deployment, Vincent Blervaque gave us an overview of what to expect.

“The main aim of the workshop is to ensure interoperability of ITS across all EU member states. So, if you travel from one place to another across borders you still have the same level and quality of service. We need standards to achieve this interoperability.”

“Secondly, ITS services are usually multi-stakeholder service chain based services and these different stakeholders must share information. The only way to achieve this is to harmonise and standardise the interface at which data is exchanged.”

Who will be there and what will they discuss?

“We have different participants representing different public and private sectors of the industry, and we have different standards organisations. This is important because different organisations are responsible for different areas of technology.”

“The objective of the workshop is to bring together all of these different standardisation bodies, represented by both public and private sector leaders, so we can focus on how we cooperate together. We need to ensure that we don’t have one block standardised which will not be able to communicate with another block that has been standardised by another organisation."

“Importantly, business representatives will be able to discuss issues with the standards organisations.”

What do you hope to achieve?

“Vienna is a very important forum where we can meet share our views and discuss next steps for working together to achieve this standardisation. We do not expect to discuss technical details, we would like to address strategic issues about the benefits of standardisation, to see how we can develop the best standards for ITS not only in Europe but also at the worldwide level. It is also a way to raise awareness amongst decision makers and those who implement solutions that standardisation is good. It can reduce costs, increase the market size and accelerate implementation.”

Acknowledging both sides of the problem, Vincent concludes: “It’s about challenges, but also about the benefits.”

Ministerial Roundtable at ITS Vienna 2012

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 10:12:24 +0200

Interview with Ministers Doris Bures (Austria), Pavel Dobes (Czech Republic), Flourentzou Efthemios (Cyprus), Alan Kelly (Ireland) , Merja Kyllönen (Finland), and Tuck Yew Lui (Singapore), ahead of the Ministerial Roundtabel at ITS Vienna 2012.

Thirteen Ministers of Transport will meet in Vienna in the morning of the official opening of the 19th ITS World Congress. In a 2-hour close discussion, Ministers participating and high level representatives will debate the needs and challenges for the successful implementation of ITS. The roundtable will be a great opportunity to share successful stories and the results of national ITS policies and to discuss the impact these projects have had on transport, the environment and society. Last but not least, Ministers will decide on the next steps within the framework of international meetings and World Congresses and endorse a joint statement to support a common approach among the countries for safer, more efficient and greener transport systems and mobility services of the future.

We had the exclusive opportunity to interview some of the Ministries participating in the roundtable and asked them to share their expectations on ITS deployment, the message they will be giving at the meeting and their hopes for future ITS.

ERTICO: Your country is very active in the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems. What do you expect from Intelligent Transport Systems and how do you support their deployment?

Doris Bures - Austrian Minister for Transport, Innovation & Technology, Host of the roundtable

I regard ITS as an integrating element. It helps to combine all means of transport in a seamless way to make the best of a traffic system and therefore holds the key to multimodality. For deploying ITS successfully you need the “4 S” – strategies – structures – standards – and last but not least you need stories to tell. On the one hand to further encourage us politicians as well as operators and industry in investing in ITS, on the other hand to make end users aware of their individual advantages. In the end it is always the user who likes and adopts a political measure. Therefore the ITS Vienna 2012 emphasises the benefits that new mobility solutions provide to end users. During its preparations, the World Congress has already proven to be an important push towards the future of mobility, but I am sure there is more to come.

Flourentzou Efthemios - Cyprus’ Minister of Communications and Works, President of the EU Transport Council

Cyprus is in the early stages of ITS deployment. A few systems are running successfully, while Cyprus is already planning the full scale deployment of a series of ITS applications for the years to come in order to achieve improvements in mobility, safety, productivity of its transportation system and environmental effects mitigation. We expect to achieve better integration of all transport modes in order to cover all interfaces and deploy several applications that will assist towards a modal shift to public transport, an area where Cyprus is a bit behind compared to most of European Member States. Since the completion of an ITS Master Plan for Cyprus in 2009, we embarked on implementing several systems in order to provide public transport information and planning as well as real time traffic information, to name a few. Through road concessions as well as EU funding through programs such as INTERREG we anticipate a more rapid deployment of ITS systems in the near future. The development of an appropriate business model to bring together all actors and stakeholders is also something we are looking into in order to boost the deployment of ITS in Cyprus.

Pavel Dobeš - Czech Minister of Transport

Intelligent transport systems are in principle the only solution for managing increasing traffic demands in the future. ITS allow a complex view on all modes of transport and make easier co-ordination between individual transport systems and also better management of crisis and extraordinary events. For this reasons the Czech Republic supports ITS deployment and implementation.

The provision of ITS services will be provided not only by the public but also the private sector due to the economical potential related to ITS deployment. It is necessary to ensure co-operation among various systems. For example, activities in the Czech Republic in the area of multi-modal journey planner or national-wide traffic information system are supported by law where obligations for common approach during deployment of these systems for all involved parties are defined. ITS development is defined in the national, regional or urban strategies. The legislative, strategic and normative documents create a framework for the harmonised deployment of new applications and their integration with the existing ITS systems.

Merja Kyllönen - Finland’s Minister of Transport and Communications

ITS will be part of the ubiquitous information society and the everyday lives of citizens. Together, Intelligent transport networks and services, intelligent vehicles, and travellers who are well informed about transport services will form an interoperable transport system. Vehicles and travellers will produce real-time data on the status of the transport system. This will provide the information basis for predictions concerning any changes in the transport system status as well as for transport operations. Vehicles will communicate with the transport infrastructure and transport information systems, and even with each other. Travellers will be able to access transport system status information easily, anywhere and at any time. An intelligent transport system will suggest alternative routes and transport modes, taking into consideration the traveller’s personal needs and preferences together with environmental sustainability. With the help of information and communication technology, transport policy will become more customer-oriented, significantly improving the nation’s competitiveness, increasing productivity, improving transport services and logistics, promoting transport safety, and reducing the carbon footprint of transport along with its other negative impacts on the environment.

In Finland we introduced our first multimodal ITS Strategy in 2009, and a second generation ITS strategy will be completed this year. The budget for implementing the strategy is 400 million Euros in 2012-2015. The Finnish Government made in 2010 a resolution to open up its public data to the public and private sectors, available free of charge or with low costs. This will help us to implement our ITS strategy and release innovations in order to achieve more customer orientated services. We have also carried out a reorganisation in our administrative branch to shift the focus from individual transport sectors to the transport system as a whole.

Alan Kelly - Ireland’s Minister of State for Public and Commuter Transport

Ireland has invested a great deal in its transport infrastructure over the last 10 years or so. Like many countries we are now looking to get the most out of it. IT has tremendous potential to help further develop, integrate, manage and maximise use of our transport assets going forward. However ITS is not just about greater use of our transport network but also the better use of it for our population, enabling people to better plan their journeys and use public transit wherever possible. A number of the advances in Ireland over the last number of years such as real time bus information will be on show in Dublin next year for the European ITS Congress.

My Department’s role is to provide a well-functioning, integrated public transport system, which enhances competitiveness, sustains economic progress, promotes balanced regional development and contributes to social cohesion. We seek to provide a standard of public transport, at reasonable cost to the customer and the taxpayer; and provide infrastructure and facilities necessary for public transport provision. The long-term ambition is to make Ireland a European leader in ITS and that is why we are investing so much time and effort into studying its benefits.

Tuck Yew Lui - Singapore’s Minister of Transport

In Singapore, we live and commute in a highly urbanised environment, with limited scope to expand our road network. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), which include state-of-the art computerised traffic signals and information systems, give us the flexibility to offer a wide-range of applications to improve the travel experience. For planners ITS yield information that enable us to plan strategically and manage travel demand. For public transport commuters, ITS offer timely travel information on buses and trains. For the motorists, ITS smoothes traffic flows, provide accurate information and facilitate decision-making on alternative routes or even modes of travel. Singapore sees the ITS as a key priority.

The ITS World Congress in Vienna 2012 will become another milestone to create global political awareness of the benefits but also of the challenges to deploy Intelligent Transport Systems. What is your message to your Minister colleagues concerning the challenges to deploy Intelligent Transport Systems?

Minister Kyllönen (Finland)

The transport system’s most important customers are the people with their mobility needs, and businesses with their particular transport requirements. The needs of these user groups form the basis for intelligent transport services and the functioning of the transport system itself. By including customers in the interactive development of services, the creativity of individuals and communities can be fully utilised and the high quality of services and genuine demand for them can be ensured. A versatile transport system and transport policy, realised with the help of ITS, will guide travellers towards the use of environmentally sustainable, economical and safe modes of transport.

Minister Dobeš (Czech Republic)

A very important issue for harmonised ITS development is cross border cooperation and knowledge sharing supported by best practice examples. It is also important to focus on acceptance of ITS systems by all potential users and relevant stakeholders.

It is essential to take into account the conformity assessment of components and, the testing and verification of the reliability of safety-relevant and safety-critical applications. This should be performed either before the introduction of a new product on the market or its regular inspection during the operation time which will secure the user to have installed equipment according to published standards. In case of such system or equipment failure in the crisis or critical situations the public could lose their trust in these systems.

Minister Kelly (Ireland)

The transport network is the cardiovascular system of the global economy – an economy or city is only as good as its transport system allows it to be. We need to work together to eliminate barriers to the smooth operation of transport systems. Often this just involves talking to each other and agreeing standards and procedures. Speaking with one voice we can get the message out there that the potential benefits of wider deployment of ITS are very significant. Achieving proper integration of a transport system is something that requires a lot of persistence and bringing people together. But advances in ITS will make this process much more seamless and second nature in future. That is the key message to our colleagues.

Minister Efthemios (Cyprus)

The ITS World Congress provides an excellent platform to raise global awareness for the benefits of ITS but also gives the opportunity for participants, Ministers and the rest of the world to discuss the challenges we all face in deploying Intelligent Transport Systems. Institutional challenges sometimes hinder the integration of ITS into the regional transportation operations and planning process. Such challenges are varied and consist of a lack of coordination within and among local authorities and government agencies, to the broad context of professional traditions and organisational targets. Better understanding of these challenges is a critical step towards developing an effective integration strategy for ITS development. Through innovations such as road sensors and predictive analytics, transport systems can be made smarter and efficient, allowing agencies to be more proactive in dealing with traffic issues.

One key element in implementing the new transport policy is to replace the traditional planning model, which emphasises new investments, with continuing development by ITS tools and other small-scale solutions. We should utilise new innovations and shift the focus from contracting orientated model towards customer-oriented transport network operations.

Minister Lui (Singapore)

Significant financial and political capital must be invested in order to reap the benefits. When Singapore decided to implement the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system to tackle congestion, it was a difficult political decision and much effort was needed to convince Singaporeans of its benefits. Today, the results speak for themselves. The combination of ERP and the strict controls we place on the growth of the vehicle population have helped to maintain average traffic speeds on our highways and roads within an optimum range, and reduced the congestion in the city centre considerably. A hassle-free commute contributes to make Singapore a global city of choice.

Minister Bures (Austria)

Even though Austria is one of the frontrunners and best practice examples, we are all together at a starting point of consistent and harmonised deployment of ITS. We have to create a community of practice to learn from each other and develop common standards. Of course we need a common ‘big picture’ but we have to walk step by step in deploying systems. Otherwise some of the important partners and stakeholders may not be able to follow. Now is the right time to get things moving. The ITS Vienna 2012 marks the first successful dialogue between industry and policymakers in form of a Ministerial Round Table and a joint statement by ministers and representatives from important international organisations.

Imagine the year 2030. What do you hope Intelligent Transport Systems will deliver to the traveller, goods transport and the driver?

Minister Efthemios (Cyprus)

It is my hope that by 2030 we will have more widespread use of ITS, with innovative solutions that will warrant moving beyond just collecting data and providing information for one mode of transport, for example road traffic data, will become a reality. I am hoping that the vision for the future ITS will shift towards a truly integrated multi modal ITS that would integrate data streams from land, sea and air and more specifically advanced systems and will be capable of providing accurate and efficient real time traffic information.

Intelligent Transport Systems have a key role to play in transforming the transport system and boosting the competitiveness of the global transport industry. Interoperable systems such as emergency call systems installed in every vehicle, multimodal journey planners for every citizen and efficient logistics systems are anticipated to assist towards achieving the objectives and benefits of ITS. Also, it is important to note the necessary yield towards facilitating co-modality by promoting the connected traveller concept with emphasis on the continuity of services.

Minister Lui (Singapore)

Intelligent roads and intelligent vehicles will interact much more going into the future. We can expect vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, autonomous vehicle movement and electric vehicles to become more prevalent. Intelligent systems controlling bus movements and traffic signals will make bus journeys quicker and more efficient. Coupled with better and more accurate information of bus arrivals and service levels, this will give commuters better control of their travel choices and improve their overall travel experience. We can also expect more interactive and dynamic real-time information to enhance overall operational efficiencies for logistics and goods transport companies and help reduce business costs and carbon footprints.

Minister Bures (Austria)

I expect ITS to provide a good and robust basis to help users, operators and also us politicians in taking smart decisions. Future mobility solutions will help us to make transport and its impacts more transparent and evident. Travelling within and across borders will become easier and more comfortable, the efficiency and sustainability of freight traffic will increase and road safety will be improved in general.

Minister Kyllönen (Finland)

In the year 2030 the transport system will be operated in real time and will provide travelers with constant travel and transport information as well as information on any conditions affecting them. The transport infrastructure and transport services will be used significantly more efficiently than now.

Minister Kelly (Ireland)

To pick one aspect of ITS I see people in 2030 being able to plan their journey across a range of modes well in advance and buy one e-ticket for the whole journey, stored securely on the cloud until needed. The information systems in place to service such a vision will be invaluable to the traveller and transporter alike. I’d also like to say that I think we are most of the way there to deliver on this vision. ITS has the ability to transform the experience of the commuter and I see my role as promoting this as much as possible.

Minister Dobeš (Czech Republic)

If we ask children those who will be thirty in 2030 we would learn that most of them will consider deployment of ITS applications as a standard in daily life. My colleague once told me that his eight-years old daughter wrote in her fairy-tail focused homework the following: “Once upon a time an old grandma lived in a cottage near by a forest. She was poor, there was no furniture in her cottage and even there was no internet connection there…”. Based on this example we can see that today’s generation of children will consider the ITS to be a normal part of their daily lives. I personally believe that ITS as a tool for traffic management will increase infomobility and by this as well travel comfort. Furthermore ITS will make transport safer, securer and more efficient and will contribute to optimised energy consumption in transport.

A final thought of Minister Alan Kelly on the next European ITS Congress

The European ITS Congress is taking place in Dublin next year from 4 to 7 June and I invite ITS stakeholders to come to Dublin and witness examples on the ground of how ITS is making a difference to ordinary Dubliners from the successful Dublin bike scheme to integrated ticketing, from barrier-free electronic tolling to variable messaging. Please also visit the ERTICO stand at the World Congress in Vienna to find out more and go along to the Special Interest Session on the event in Business Suite 2 on the Thursday 25 October at 16:00.

Experience the DRIVE C2X reference system

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:49:07 +0200

The large European FOT project DRIVE C2X, invites you to experience the benefits of cooperative driving at the ITS World Congress in Vienna.

DRIVE C2X will participate in the Congress with two special sessions and seven technical papers. The new DRIVE C2X reference system can be experienced during a joint cooperative mobility driving demonstration organised by the Car 2 Car Communication Consortium and Testfeld Telematik. An opportunity to re-live the driving tour is offered at the DRIVE C2X Test Management Centre in the exhibition area of the European Commission.

ERTICO and TNO - together with DRIVE-C2X partners - led the work on system validation and contributed to the DRIVE-C2X cooperative system used by the cooperative mobility driving demonstration.

The programme with all DRIVE C2X activities is now available: http://www.drive-c2x.eu/news-item/items/drive-c2x-at-its-world-congress

Toyota Belgium launches first in-car DAB

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 17:10:42 +0200

Toyota Belgium launches first in-car DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) traffic information powered by be-mobile and RTBF.

be-mobile fully leverages the power of DAB enabling Toyota Belgium to offer their customers all the advantages of digital audio broadcasting for their in-car navigation systems.

Brussels, October 9 2012: Toyota, the world’s top vehicle manufacturing company by volume*, today announces that all of their Toyota Land Cruiser V8, Grand Prius+ Lounge version, Prius Solar Premium version cars sold in Belgium will carry traffic information for their in-car systems on DAB, powered by be-mobile and using the RTBF DAB network in French-speaking Belgium (and the VRT DAB network in Flanders).

• More accurate flow prediction of arrival/travel times

• Real-time mobile radar & traffic alert warnings

• Parking advice: closest parking lot, available places etc…

• Public transport timetables

• Weather updates

“This represents further proof of be-mobile’s leading position in terms accurate traffic information data and be-mobile’s commitment to developing traffic information distribution using new technologies such as DAB.”

*World motor vehicle production by manufacturer: World ranking of manufacturers 2010". OICA. August 2011.

ITS United Kingdom Council elects two new Directors

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:35:18 +0200

ITS United Kingdom, the Intelligent Transport Systems association for the UK, has elected two new Directors.

At the recent Council meeting in London, Giles Perkins of Mouchel was elected as Communications Director, and Gary Umpleby of Hogia was elected as Finance Director. Gary is also the Chairman of ITS (UK)’s Public Transport Interest Group.

Welcoming the two new Directors, the Chairman of ITS (UK) Jeremy Evans said: “I am delighted to welcome Giles and Gary among our Directors. The Directors peform a valuable service in overseeing the work of the ITS (UK) Secretariat in their respective areas. These positions are an important part of our governance process.”

Giles Perkins said: "I'm looking forward to being able to help ITS (UK) at a time when the opportunities for the sector are significant and developments in ITS technology are advancing at a rapid pace".

The new Finance Director, Gary Umpleby, added ”I am delighted to be invited to perform the role of the ITS (UK) Finance Director, which gives me the opportunity to give a little back to the organisation that has provided so much benefit in the world of ITS to both the company for which I work, and also to me as an individual. I am also grateful to my predecessor Silke Elvery of TfL, for her stewardship of the finances over a number of years - while a hard act to follow, I will endeavour to continue her good work."

For more information, contact Jennie Martin.

UDRIVE Kick-off Meeting

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:11:53 +0200

The first large-scale naturalistic driving study off the starting blocks

On 4 October, the UDRIVE project – the first large-scale European Naturalistic Driving Study on cars, trucks and powered-two wheelers – kicked off with a two-day meeting. The 19 partners, who represent a good balance between different EU regions and stakeholders (industry, national organisations, research institutes, etc.), got together to plan and define their work and objectives for the next 48 months.

Road transport is indispensable for the exchange of goods and persons, but at the same time has severe negative consequences, among others related to road safety and the environment. In order to meet EU targets, both the number of road crashes and vehicle emission levels need to be reduced substantially. In order to identify the next generation of measures that will enable us to actually reach these targets, a far more in-depth understanding of road user behaviour is needed.

The UDRIVE project builds on the experiences of the PROLOGUE feasibility study and various Field Operational Tests (FOTs), and aims to contribute to developing this in-depth knowledge by conducting the first large-scale European Naturalistic Driving (ND) study.

Over a period of two years, UDRIVE will collect information on a total of 470 vehicles, each for one year: 240 passenger cars, 150 trucks, and 80 powered two-wheelers. All data - including video data showing the forward view and the view of the driver, as well as GIS data - will be collected continuously to bring knowledge in the various research areas well beyond the current state-of-the-art.

With this in mind UDRIVE has gotten off the starting blocks and will kick-start its activities with a technical workshop on research questions to be held in Brussels, in December 2012. Further information on the workshop and other UDRIVE activities will soon be available on www.udrive.eu (website under construction).

Telematics Conference SE Europe: Report

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:52:26 +0200

The Telematics Conference SE Europe took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 27th September 2012.

The following article gives an overview of the conference themes and discussions.

Growth as the main theme of the regional telematics conference

The telematics industry, with its rapid growth, is a bright exception in this time of economic crisis in Europe. How to keep the sales of telematics systems for vehicle monitoring and fleet management at a high level and use development potentials in Southeast Europe were key themes of the second regional event Telematics Conference SEEurope, which was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Conference director Alenka Bezjak carried out her introductory speech for approximately 80 conference participants. She presented findings of market research in commercial vehicles and telematics solutions in Southeast Europe. According to the research, the number of commercial vehicles has stagnated at the same level as before the economic crisis, while the number of vehicles equipped with tracking devices continues to grow. It is expected that their number will annually grow by 20 percent in the following 5 years. That means that by 2016 almost 900 thousand or 8 percent of commercial vehicles in the region will be equipped with systems for tracking and fleet management.

In 2020, more devices will communicate than people

Vlado Galevski

Vlado Galevski, regional manager for CEE/CIS countries at the Telekom Austria Group M2M, was the first speaker at the event in the session on M2M systems in the telematics industry. In his presentation, he focused on the growing 'internet of things' and the development of devices capable of communication (i.e. machine-to-machine or M2M). He mentioned that according to some predictions in 2020 there will be 50 billion devices with communication capability – that means much more than there are people on Earth. At Telekom Austria Group, they expect to connect 10 million 'smart' devices only in Central and Eastern Europe by 2015. In the intertwining of telephones, computers, vehicles and other devices that will be able to 'talk' to each other, it will be very important to assure the simplest and the most economical information transfer. In that way companies – e.g. providers of telematics solutions for commercial vehicles – will be able to significantly reduce their costs.

Claudiu Suma, CEO of the Romanian telematics solutions provider SafeFleet, continued with the topic of cost optimisation for future years, which will not be all rosy, since there will be too many providers of fleet management systems in the region. In conclusion, he proposed a short recipe for survival: “We must be efficient, integrate many operations under one hood, find new services, sell some data and help each other.”

Bright future of insurance telematics

The second conference section on global development and impact began with a speech by Dean Herenda, who is the secretary at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning of the Republic of Slovenia and the vice-president of the European network for intelligent transport systems Ertico ITS Europe. He presented the implementation in the EU of eCall, i.e. the system in vehicles for automatic emergency calls. According to expectations, the system should be fully developed and deployed by 2015.

The next presenter, Ante Sladojević from Nokia Location & Commerce, was focused on maps, which are prepared by collecting numerous data – including those sent by their users. “They are the largest cartography team on the planet,” he explained and mentioned that maps shouldn't be merely precise but also constantly updated.

Matjaž Fajfar from the Slovenian company Adacta presented insurance telematics as a very prospective market niche. It is becoming quite common to pay an annual insurance premium by mileage and driving style, which are monitored by built-in telematics systems in vehicles that operate via on-board diagnostics (OBD) instead of GPS positioning. In Fajfar's opinion, their system enables a more fair payment of annual premiums, and it also spares customers their worries about the 'surveillance eye', since vehicle use is diagnosed without any direct surveillance from GPS-based systems.

Shooting moving targets

Klemen Jamšek from CVS Mobile, a regional telematics solutions provider headquartered in Slovenia, described differences between efficiency and effectiveness in fleet management using an example of a public transport group with over 200 vehicles. He explained how through a smart choice by the most efficient solution for vehicle tracking and fleet management, the company can reduce fuel costs by 4 to 7 percent. “There is not only one custom solution to improve vehicle fleet efficiency,” emphasised Jamšek. “Therefore, we always try to find the best solution for each company. It can be achieved only if we are familiar with our ‘targets’ or focus groups – in our case vehicle fleets. Only then can we ‘hit’ them with our system.”

Dragomir Bojkov, COO of the leading Bulgarian telematics provider ICOM, presented on the influence of European initiatives on the regional situation. As he explained, a system for emergency calls (eCall), a system for localised vehicle breakdown (bCall) and Pay as You Drive (PAYD) insurance will be some of the driving gears for further telematics development in Southeast Europe.

Nenad Hercigonja from EMA Group, headquartered in Slovenia, introduced a somewhat different theme compared to other conference speakers, who were mainly focused on vehicle fleet management. He presented telematics solutions for vessels, which have to be reliable in the open sea and are therefore based on the satellite telecommunication system Iridium.

Dynamic navigation instead of traffic reports on the radio

The last conference section presented two case studies from the telematics industry. The first speaker in this section was Antoine Mathiaud from Qualcomm Enterprise Services. He presented the main advantages of telematics solutions, developed by the global telematics giant, which tracks the movements of a million and a half vehicles in 39 countries. The final presenter was Jan Cools from Belgian company Be-Mobile. He described how it is possible to collect and analyse large sets of data containing information on vehicles that are sent to them by telematics solutions providers. Analysed data helps to inform drivers for example about obstacles and traffic congestion on the road. So-called dynamic navigation, which can be accessed even via mobile applications, enables drivers to follow the traffic situation in real time, which makes it easier for them to make decisions about optimal routes.

Conference will move to the south

The official part of the event was concluded by a round table. Conference director Alenka Bezjak discussed with Dragomir Bojkov from ICOM, Vlado Galevski from Telekom Austria Group M2M and Jan Cools from Be-Mobile about the future of telematics in the region, the role of smart phones, traffic information and its use and cooperation in telematics industry. The guests presented three different views on this topic: a perspective of telematics solutions provider, a perspective of telecommunication operator and M2M specialist and a perspective of a company that collects, analyses and dispatches traffic data.

Dragomir Bojkov

The visitors to the conference, which is already considered to be the central regional business meeting in telematics that merges the key stakeholders from and outside Southeast Europe, also visited the exhibition hall where SeeMe, VEPAMON, TELTONIKA, CANGO, BlueTraker, Telekom Austria Group M2M and CVS Mobile presented their recent solutions. At the end of the official part, the conference director invited all participants to the next conference that will be held on 26 September 2013 in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.

Additional information

Dan Podjed

M: + 386 31 820 198

E: dan@telematics-conference.com

W: www.telematics-conference.com

TTS Italia welcomes 6 new members

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:30:31 +0200

The Board of Directors of TTS Italia has approved the accession of six new Members for 2012 at its meeting on 19 September.

The new members are:

Consortium Triveneto focus on the research and design of products based on wireless technology and contactless mobile payment systems for of road tolls and parking, access to restricted traffic zones and electronic ticketing systems;

Etrucknet, are an ITS for transport start-up which focuses on support for SMEs with environmental protection and energy saving, and the implementation of interoperable ITS solutions;

IVU Traffic Technologies, a company focused on the development of integrated computer systems for public transport companies and the logistics industry. They assist with planning and time management for shifts, ticket monitoring for fleets, and advanced systems for passenger information;

Rome Servizi per la Mobilità, a company which aims to integrate the functions of planning, design and control of public and private mobility with those of information to serve the citizens of Rome;

Teleparking, are dedicated to the study and implementation of mobility projects, with a focus on solutions that meet both the need for cost containment and sustainable development.

Tom Tom, a company which specialises in products and digital maps for navigation and support services to guide motorists, including portable navigation devices, navigation integrated systems, solutions for fleet management, maps and real-time services.

TomTom HD Traffic now available as TPEG service for automotive navigation solutions

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:11:51 +0200

On 27 September TomTom announced the availability of a new delivery technology that enables further integration of its real-time traffic product, TomTom HD Traffic, in navigation solutions for the automotive market.

TomTom has developed TPEG (an industry standard maintained by TISA) over IP service to deliver HD Traffic to automotive in-dash devices developed by other Tier-1s. This new technology will boost the number of devices compatible with TomTom HD Traffic and ultimately lead to further growth of the user community.

Ralf-Peter Schäfer, Head of TomTom Traffic Product Unit, said: “We are very pleased to accelerate the availability of TomTom HD Traffic using common standards such as TPEG and OpenLR to provide premium traffic information for the entire road network.”

TPEG is becoming widely adopted in the automotive area to deliver traffic information, both via radio broadcast and via IP for connected devices (e.g. GPRS, 3G, LTE). TomTom offers TPEG delivery via IP, leveraging the two-way IP communication channel to bring a service tailored to the device’s location. Additionally, TISA has approved the OpenLR3 location referencing technology for use in TPEG. This ensures that the detailed road coverage which is available on TomTom devices can also be offered to third-party devices. OpenLR enables traffic information not only for major roads which are included in the standard TMC tables, but also lower class roads. OpenLR is open source and carries no license fees. The TPEG2-OLR specification is now available on the TISA website.

TomTom is already collaborating with several major car manufacturers to integrate TomTom HD Traffic into their devices. Further details will be released in the near future. To learn more about the TPEG service and TomTom HD Traffic, visit Hall 3 Booth #240 at the Paris Motor Show.

ERTICO Partners publish eCall recommendations

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 10:16:02 +0200

The European Commission recently published its Recommendation on support for an “EU wide eCall service” in electronic communication networks for the transmission of in-vehicle emergency calls based on the European standards developed by the European Standardisation Organisations (including E112 and TPS) and an Impact Assessment on the implementation of a harmonised “EU wide eCall service”.

The Impact Assessment concludes that:

• For the EU27 a regulatory approach is most effective and efficient. It is therefore recommended as the preferred option by the European Commission for the implementation of the “EU wide eCall service”

• The “EU wide eCall service” for passenger cars and light-duty vehicles will be included in an Annex to the Type Approval Directive, which is currently under preparation by European Commission to take effect from 2015 for new type approved vehicles

The Impact Assessment was followed by a draft report from the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection & Committee on Transport and Tourism supporting the conclusions of the Impact Assessment.

From the start, ERTICO’s Partners have supported and actively contributed to the development of an “EU wide eCall service” and therefore see a special responsibility to ensure effective deployment in Europe.

The document, which can be downloaded here, serves to support the EU institutions in achieving effective deployment of “EU wide eCall service” in Europe.

Successful TPEG Testfest held in Munich

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 12:05:44 +0200

From 10-12 September, 16 organisations active in the value-chain of TPEG services (Service Providers, Toolkit providers, Client Manufacturers) gathered from across the globe in the Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT) premises in Munich to perform 3 days of intensive face-to-face testing.

This 1st TPEG Testfest, which was jointly organised by ERTICO and by TISA, follows a series of interoperability test events already organised by ERTICO in the scope of various ITS services (cooperative mobility, eCall). The event aimed at providing the framework for one-to-one testing and live debugging with clearly defined use-cases and a systematic record of the learning points. The test cases focused mainly on the implementation of TPEG Applications currently defined in TISA Specifications which are soon to become worldwide Standards: TPEG-SNI (TISA Specification SP11014, to become ISO/TS 18234-3), TPEG-TEC (TISA Specification SP11016, to become ISO/TS 18234-9), TPEG-TFP (TISA Specification SP10036, to become ISO/TS 21219-18) and the TPEG DAB adaptation layer (TISA specification SP10008).

Among all executed Test Cases, the level of interoperability has proven good with an average success rate of 87%. In addition to this interoperability assessment, the event also provided the TISA Community with extremely valuable feedback on the interpretation of the standards and how they could be refined in the future to ensure an even more consistent implementation of the TPEG technology across the whole value-chain worldwide.

Overall the participants’ satisfaction was excellent and Matthias Unbehaun, TISA Executive Director Designate commented, “this initiative was a success which should pave the way for future activities aiming at assessing and continuously improving the compliance between TPEG clients and TPEG services. Given the maturity level reached by the TPEG technology today, the timing was perfect for this first TPEG Testfest”. A similar Testfest is already in preparation and should take place in spring 2013.

Testfest is a generic testing service provided by ERTICO, to carry out Interoperability test event for ITS standards implementations. This new testing service is part of the ERTICO strategy to efficiently ensure interoperability and thus enable the deployment of ITS systems and services.

For further information please contact:

Amaury Cornélis, TISA Coordinator
a.cornelis@tisa.org
+32 (0)2 400 07 43

François Fischer, ERTICO Project Manager
f.fischer@mail.ertico.com
+32 (0)2 400 07 96

Note to the editor:

About ERTICO
ERTICO – ITS Europe is a multi-sector, public/private partnership pursuing the development and deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS). We connect public authorities, industry players, infrastructure operators, users, national ITS associations and other organisations together and work to bring “Intelligence into Mobility”.

The ERTICO work programme focuses on initiatives to improve road safety, security and network efficiency whilst taking into account measures to reduce environmental impact. Our vision is of a future transport system working towards zero accidents, zero delays and fully informed people, where services are affordable and seamless, the environment is protected, privacy is respected and security is provided.
www.ertico.com

About TISA
TISA is a market-driven membership association with worldwide scope, established as a not for-profit company focussed on proactive implementation of traffic and travel information services and products based on existing standards, including primarily RDS-TMC (Radio Data Signal - Traffic Message Channel) and TPEG (Transport Protocol Experts Group) technologies.

TISA supports the maintenance and development of standardised technologies leading to economic implementation and rapid market acceptance across a wide range of travel information services and products. In addition to road traffic information, for example, public transport, points of interest, weather and environmental data will continue to be in the TISA focus of important topic areas.
www.tisa.org

About TPEG
TPEG (Transport Protocol Experts Group) is a protocol offering the toolkit and the applications for transmitting digital multimodal traffic and travel information, regardless of client type, location or required delivery channel (e.g. DAB, HD radio, Internet, DVB-x, DMB, GPRS, Wi-Fi). Language independence has also been a prime principle in the design. The TPEG specifications are developed and maintained by TISA before worldwide standardisation by ISO.

Zeljko Jeftic, Senior Project Manager (ERTICO) inducted into the Hall of Fame of Driven

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:48:47 +0200

On 25 September 2012, during the final evaluation of the successful FREIOT pilot, and in recognition of his outstanding work, Zeljko Jeftic, Senior Project Manager at ERTICO, was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Driven by Helmond, city of smart mobility at the Automotive Campus NL by Gert Blom, City of Helmond Mobility Adviser.

Mr Blom said, “A project stands or falls with the passion and enthusiasm of the people. The special passion and commitment of Zeljko Jeftic as overall project manager was striking and the basis for the success of the project in general, and also for the success of the project in Helmond. Zeljko Jeftic is a worthy inductee into the Driven Hall of Fame.”

Mr Jeftic is only the third winner of the award, given out to individuals who make outstanding contributions to driving forward ITS in Helmond.

For more information on FREILOT, click here

The first eCall in Greece

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:23:20 +0200

The first eCall in Greece

The Greek eΚΛΗΣΗ project is now in the final stages of creating an automatic warning system in case of a traffic accident

The first tests of the automatic emergency call system (eCall), within the frame of the pilot national research project eΚΛΗΣΗ (http://www.ecall-hellas.eu/), have been successfully concluded. The national project eΚΛΗΣΗ prepares Greece for the implementation of the eCall service which will be obligatory for all EU member-states from end 2014.

The eΚΛΗΣΗ project in Greece aims to implement and demonstrate a national pilot application for the eCall system. The system will automatically notify the public authorities about a car accident via mobile telecommunication networks, utilizing the European pre-assigned emergency number (112), and complying with the same technical standards and with the same Quality of Service, across Europe.

The project is coordinated by ERTICO's partner, the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), with the participation of COSMOTE Mobile Telecommunications S.A. (The Mobile Network Operator) and SPACE HELLAS S.A. (SW and electronics SME). It is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union and by national resources under the 2007-2013 NSRF and the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (OPC II) framework.

The tests were performed on a prototype system and rooted emergency calls from the In Vehicle System (IVS), which was implemented by ICCS, to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), which was implemented by SPACE HELLAS, through the mobile telecommunication network of COSMOTE.

During these tests the whole system was optimized (IVS, PSAP, mobile network), and the results obtained confirmed the correct operation of the system and the technological readiness of the mobile telecommunication network to serve eCall.

ICCS implemented the eCall unit (IVS) inside a research vehicle, which was equipped to allow in-vehicle emergency calls. The eCall system can be activated either automatically by a vehicle sensor, or manually by pressing a dedicated button.

COSMOTE is the first mobile telecommunication network operator in Greece and among the first in Europe that can support eCall emergency calls. As part of the eΚΛΗΣΗ research project, the under test software: «Feature 1886: eCall Handling in MSS», was installed and activated, through which the identification of the caller’s exact location is facilitated and accelerated. This can be achieved as the software enables the distinction of the eCall emergency calls (with the use of specific eCall flags), while providing enriched information on location, type of the vehicle and the method of the call (automatic or manual).

The Public Service Answering Point (PSAP), entirely implemented by SPACE HELLAS, is the first pilot developed and tested successfully in Greece. The SPACE HELLAS software application supports basic functions such as PSAP operator warning for the arrival of a new eCall emergence call, a visualisation of the incoming information (eg.MSD) in GIS digital maps, the ability to manage the eCall emergency call (eg. recall, terminate) in addition with a voice call with the vehicle passengers, etc. A PSAP application, with the appropriate extensions, can be integrated into the framework of a 112 emergency system in order to enable the Civil Protection institutions to operate the eCall system. Once activated they can respond to emergency incidents such as road deaths, serious injuries and traffic accidents on Greek roads.

The eΚΛΗΣΗ project will have concluded its research work by the end of 2012. The project’s results will be presented to a wide audience in November 2012 during an eΚΛΗΣΗ final event and demonstration that will take place at the National and Technical University of Athens.

For further information please contact:

Project coordinator: Dr. Angelos Amditis
Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS)
a.amditis@iccs.gr

ERTICO welcomes new staff

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:53:29 +0200

Ian Bearder

Ian Bearder joined ERTICO as Communications Officer on 1st October 2012.

After working as an IT Consultant for many years, in 2008 Ian successfully completed his goal of travelling to all 49 countries in Europe. Driven by his fascination with European culture and governance, he returned to University in 2008 to study a Masters Degree in European and International Studies. After completing his MA he lived and worked in Kyiv, Ukraine – the country he chose as the topic for his MA thesis.

In June 2011 he joined a project to setup and run a 24 hour TV news channel which currently broadcasts across the Middle East, Europe and North America.

Contact Ian Bearder.

EDITS - European Digital Traffic Infrastructure Network for Intelligent Transport Systems

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:48:47 +0200

The project EDITS (European Digital Traffic Infrastructure Network for Intelligent Transport Systems) is focusing on the provision of interoperable and multimodal information services for travellers. The main goal is to support travellers along their journeys, independent of location and time, by providing web-based services on the one hand and on-trip services, e.g. smartphone applications, on the other. To enable a provision of interoperable and multimodal services for end-users, a harmonised and commonly agreed open interface for data and information exchange between the mobility service operators of Austria, Czech-Republic, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia is necessary. Through a dynamic exchange of contents and facts, travellers will be able to receive location-based multimodal information as well as cross boarder information.

EDITS is implemented by the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme and co-financed by ERDF European Regional Development Fund.
The project is coordinated by AustriaTech, the Federal Agency for Technological Measures in Austria, which will provide experiences of former national activities. Current national services like “GIP – the Graph Integration Platform” and “VAO – the national traffic information system” form the basis for the development and implementation of cross-border solutions. The kick-off meeting will be held in October in Vienna. The project is a major step forward for a harmonised deployment of ITS solutions in the Central Europe Region.

Siemens to equip the world's fourth longest suspension bridge with traffic control technology

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:33:52 +0200

In the construction of the fourth longest suspension bridge in the world, Siemens will be the general contractor responsible for the development, installation and commissioning of all components and systems for the traffic control technology. The six-lane bridge is part of a freeway project linking the cities of Istanbul and Izmir in Western Turkey. The customer is the Japanese company IHI Infrastructure Systems Co., Ltd. The volume of the contract for Siemens is worth around 17 million euros. Commissioning is scheduled for 2015.

Siemens is equipping the almost three-kilometer-long freeway bridge at the eastern end of the Sea of Marmara in Turkey with state-of-the-art traffic control technology. This includes the traffic control system, monitoring technology and components for the technical infrastructure such as communication and camera equipment, energy supply, lighting and ventilation. The nucleus is the integrated operations and traffic control technology center. The traffic control system combines all operating and traffic data in the control center, guides the traffic flows and monitors the situation on the freeway bridge. The operations control technology controls lighting, ventilation and energy distribution and supply on the bridge.

The region around Izmir is prone to earthquakes and therefore requires special monitoring technology. Integrated seismic sensors therefore monitor the stability of the local infrastructure and supply data on the state of components and buildings continuously. Any damage or deformation is detected and reported at an early stage.

Siemens is also supplying components for the technical infrastructure such as camera surveillance technology and emergency call control centers for the new building in Turkey. Plus the complete lighting system for the bridge, deck and air traffic as well as dehumidification systems for girders, cables and pylons. A SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system will be used for the process monitoring and control of the system.

The construction of the bridge and the 420-kilometer-long highway between Istanbul and Izmir is part of the largest freeway project in Turkey to date. This new six-lane bridge connection will cut the travel time between both cities from eight to four hours. The new freeway will also relieve inner-city traffic congestion in Istanbul. The newly constructed highway will shift the traffic to the Istanbul suburbs and lessen congestion in the city center.

For more information, click here.

Neelie Kroes attends a regional conference in Bulgaria: eCall on the agenda

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:38:24 +0200

Andy Rooke, the Project Coordinator of the HeERO project emphasised the huge progress of Bulgaria in the eCall service

Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda for Europe was a guest of honor and has opened the regional conference “Digital Agenda for Europe: Reality or still a challenge?” which was held on 20 September in the Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan, Sofia, Bulgaria.

The conference in Sofia was a working meeting of the digital champions from all European countries. In addition to ambassadors of the new technologies (digital champions), the conference was attended by regional and European ministers, IT companies such as Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Microsoft, Vivacom, NGOs, IT specialists etc. The regional conference was one of the three local or “going local” European Commission initiatives for the year European Commission.

In order to develop a united European Information Society, within the European Union, investments are needed. Especially in the field of high-speed broadband connectivity and researches, this will lead to more innovations, stated Neelie Kroes. Soon up to 90 percent of the jobs will require digital knowledge. Digital infrastructure investments are crucial for public access to electronic services and for bridging the gap between generations. Internet speed in Bulgaria is one of the fastest in Europe, but this refers only to urban areas, accessing the internet in rural areas is an issue, the Commissioner added.

Neelie Kroes also stated the role of Bulgaria in the process of development of the Pan-European in-vehicle emergency call system eCall based on 112/E112, the single European Emergency number. She expressed confidence that Bulgaria is going to have a leading role in the project. Bulgaria is among the strong supporters of this traffic safety system and takes active participation in its introduction. In front of the participants of the regional conference she stated that innovative project proposals could give long term solutions. The eCall system is a good example of how ITS can provide aid in real life, said Commissioner Kroes and expressed her regards to the Bulgarian government for the efforts to bring eCall to life.

The Deputy Minister of Interiors Dimitar Georgiev said traffic safety has been a basic priority for the past few years. “Taking into consideration that mostly second hand vehicles are used in Bulgaria it is necessary to use more technical means to limit speed. During the last three years we have managed to reduce traffic accidents by 11 percent per year. The ministry would like to deploy eCall in Bulgaria. This would reduce the number of injuries in traffic accidents by up to 15 percent. How do we plan to achieve it ?: by introducing ETSI standards, mounting GPS systems in cars, which will deliver information to emergency services so that first aid is provided without delay. The tag price of such devices, developed by one of Bulgarian partners, would be around 50 Euros a piece, half as much as the price announced by Commissioner Kroes. The Deputy Minister of Transport Valeri Borissov stated in front of the European Commissioner that Bulgaria wishes to be a leader, that Bulgaria has the expert capacity in the development of various pilot IT (ITS) projects, such as eCall.

The conference was attended by Andy Rooke, coordinator of the HeERO project, who presented the aims and tasks facing the HeERO project and its extension HeERO 2. Mr Rooke stressed that the project addresses the pan-European in-vehicle emergency call service “eCall” based on 112/E112, the single European emergency number. The aim of the in-vehicle eCall system – based on the 112 call platform – is to ensure that the emergency services are alerted automatically to serious road accidents. This system would speed up the arrival of the emergency services, saving lives and reducing injuries and also improve road safety. The implementation of the e-Call system on cars will make it available for each equipped vehicle travelling within Europe without the necessity of additional devices or service agreements. Fifteen European countries participate in the HeERO project and its extension HeERO 2 and Bulgaria is one of them. Mr Rooke has emphasised the huge progress of Bulgaria in eCall and expressed his satisfaction with the collaboration with the Bulgarian consortium partners. He evaluated the big potential of the Bulgarian industry in this sphere.

Demonstration of e-call service for the transmission of in-vehicle emergency calls based on 112 was made at the Conference by one of Bulgarian partners in HeERO 2 project, a member of ITS Bulgaria. The device automatically dials the European emergency number 112 and transmits information about the exact location of the crashed vehicle to the nearest emergency centre. According to the European Commission this system will help to save more than 2500 human lives per year in the EU. Traffic accidents bring more than 160 billion euro economic losses per year. The implementation of the eCall system in cars could bring 26 billions savings annually compared with the cost of installation of less than 100 euro per car.

Turkish Ministry of Transport joins ERTICO - ITS Europe

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:22:18 +0200

The Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications has joined the ERTICO – ITS Europe Partnership, Europe’s leading organisation supporting R&D and deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS). Joining 100 Partners ranging from mobile network operators, public authorities, research institutions, services providers, suppliers, traffic and transport industry, user groups and vehicle manufactures, the Turkish Ministry of Transport has put itself at the heart of the ITS industry in Europe - and beyond.

With large investment in its transport infrastructure, including ITS, Turkey wants to ensure that its infrastructure is compatible with emerging international standards, and indeed to contribute to those standards. By joining the ERTICO Partnership, the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications will benefit from ERTICO’s expertise in ITS and close relationship with the relevant international ITS bodies and stakeholders, while bringing to the table the fast-growing and dynamic Turkish market and innovative ITS sector – already more than 45% of Turkish trade is with the EU and nearly 80% of foreign direct investment in Turkey comes from the EU.

What’s more, being a full member of the ERTICO Partnership will facilitate information exchange and allow Turkey to participate fully in R&D and development projects in the field of ITS, with eCall being one example - Turkey intends to integrate the eCall system into the existing 112 PSAP in Antalya as part of the proposed HeERO 2 pilot project.

Furthermore, the creation of the organisation “ITS Turkey” will bring all Turkish ITS players under one roof so that Turkish industry, research institutions and other stakeholders can speak with a single voice and fully participate in the international ITS dialogue.

Erol Yanar, Director of Strategy Department, Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications, said, “We believe that successful deployment of intelligent transport systems throughout Turkey will enhance the strength of ERTICO and we think that becoming a member of ERTICO and benefiting from its substantial experience will make a major contribution to the development of ITS in Turkey. We also believe that our young and open-minded population and dynamic constitution will contribute substantially to ERTICO”.

Jean Mesqui, the Chairman of ERTICO – ITS Europe, said, “We very much welcome Turkey into the ERTICO Partnership. Turkey is a strong contributor in terms of competence to develop and deploy Intelligent Transport Systems. We are all very excited to now work together with Turkey in the ERTICO Partnership to make mobility smarter, safer and greener.”

A Turkish delegation will also be participating at the 19th ITS World Congress, held in Vienna 22-26 October 2012. The Head of Research and Development Department, Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication will be speaking at the “Smart Mobility applications” session (9:00 – 10:30 25 October). The session is jointly organised by the European Commission and ERTICO.

Full statement by Erol Yanar, Director of Strategy Department, Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications

“As a result of a huge amount of highway investments, the length of divided roads approximately tripled and the length of the renewed and maintained highways doubled in the last nine years. Thanks to the continuous improvement of the economical conditions, the number of vehicles has almost doubled between 2003-2011 period. These are pleasing developments for Turkey.

We have a vision of providing and regulating the transport and communications services in a qualified, safe, environmentally friendly, fair and economical way for all of our citizens.

We believe that successful deployment of intelligent transport systems throughout Turkey will enhance the strength of ERTICO and we think that becoming a Partner of ERTICO and benefiting from its substantial experience will make a major contribution to the development of ITS in Turkey. We also believe that our young and open-minded population and dynamic constitution will contribute substantially to ERTICO”.
__________________________

About ERTICO – ITS Europe

ERTICO – ITS Europe is a multi-sector, public/private partnership pursuing the development and deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS). We connect public authorities, industry players, infrastructure operators, users, national ITS associations and other organisations together and work to bring “Intelligence into Mobility”.

The ERTICO work programme focuses on initiatives to improve road safety, security and network efficiency whilst taking into account measures to reduce environmental impact. Our vision is of a future transport system working towards zero accidents, zero delays and fully informed people, where services are affordable and seamless, the environment is protected, privacy is respected and security is provided.

About ITS and Turkey

The Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications organised the country’s first large scale ITS workshop on 25 May 2012, with the aim of raising awareness of ITS. More than five hundred representatives of Turkish public authorities, the ITS industry and academia converged on Istanbul to discuss the current standards in ITS and how ITS can best be deployed.

The Turkish Minister for Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications, Binali Yildirim, attended the event, giving it his wholehearted support, noting that “…ITS implementation is more important than ever in the country. We have to increase ITS deployment to save time and energy. It is also very important to decrease accidents and fatality rates.”

http://www.ubak.gov.tr/

Further information on ITS and Turkey can be found here

iCar Support has issued a call for tender

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:36:11 +0200

iCar Support has issued a call for tender on the following topic:

Literature study on effect on traffic and CO2 and on implementation of ICT measures in the Eco-Driving and Eco-Freight and Logistics Management scope

iMobility Area/Topic: Eco-Driving and Eco-Freight and Logistics Management

Launch date (expected): 24 September 2012

Duration of study (expected): 4 weeks

DEADLINE for submission: 24/10/2012

Download the call for tenders.

Download the guidelines for submission of tender, click here.

Congress participants experience intelligent mobility on their smartphone

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:17:29 +0200

World premiere at the 19th ITS World Congress in Vienna: The “Kongressnavigator” is the first app to combine all the most important things at a Congress. It helps visitors navigate through the city and the Congress Centre, and it integrates the conference programme, transportation schedules and tickets. All this comes together on the smartphone – now available for the iPhone, Android and as a mobile web application.

Arrival at the airport followed by a quick stop at the hotel – there’s not much time to spare: The opening ceremony of the ITS World Congress will start in just a few minutes. In the lobby, visitors pull out their mobile phone and let the Kongressnavigator show them the way from the hotel to Messe Wien and directly to hall 2. Naturally, the app knows when the next metro will leave and is aware of any delays in real time. The ticket for public transportation comes automatically to the mobile phone through the app. Along the way, the app provides an overview of the presenters and demonstrations, and it creates a personalised Congress programme. The app also shows the shortest route from the metro station to the conference hall. At the entrance, visitors show their mobile phone and receive their delegate name tag to hang around their neck.

All-in-one navigation on the smartphone

The Kongressnavigator is the first app to combine navigation through the city with guidance at the Congress Centre. Participants in the ITS World Congress can try out the seamless transition in navigation on their own smartphone: GPS-based navigation outdoors, plus real-time information about public transportation. In the conference hall and the Congress Centre, the mobile phone uses sensors and QR codes to lead the way. The Kongressnavigator gives a whole new meaning to the term “multimodal” and allows visitors to experience it for themselves: The app suggests the best routes for travelling by metro and bus as well as by rental car, city bike or foot.

Those who opt to bike or walk can collect eco-points in one of the themed “challenges”. So the Kongressnavigator also appeals to participants’ play instinct. People who choose to participate in the challenges receive tasks related to a topic on their mobile phone – for example, to visit a certain exhibitor or participate in a session or technical demonstration. The participants answer questions or research a route. In this way, they collect points and also gain better insight into an important topic of the Congress.

In the exhibition hall, the Kongressnavigator takes over route planning between the stands. When preparing for the Congress at home, visitors can already mark the stands they want to visit using QR codes, and they receive the fastest route to hit them all. They can bookmark sessions and demonstrations that they don’t want to miss and receive timely reminders. Those who would you like to know more about a speaker or exhibitor can leave a virtual business card using the Kongressnavigator. During the sessions, participants can give the speakers direct feedback on their speeches, ask questions and give comments with the Kongressnavigator. And of course, the events in the evening and various sights in Vienna are integrated into the app.

Available for iPhones, Android smartphones and as a web app

The Kongressnavigator is available for iPhones in the App Store and for Android smartphones on Google Play, and can be found by searching for “Kongressnavigator”. It is also available as a web app.

The app can be used throughout the Congress Centre via Wi-Fi – which means no additional data roaming charges and a longer, more intense taste of personal mobility for visitors.

The Kongressnavigator was designed by AustriaTech, a subsidiary of the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT). The project is being funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund. The project partners are Fluidtime, ITS Vienna Region, CSS-Computer-Systems-Support, TechTalk and Salzburg Research.

The ITS World Congress is held every three years in alternating locations in the Americas, Asia and Europe, and will be hosted by Vienna for the first time this year. Roughly 300 exhibitors and some 10,000 participants are expected. The Congress in Vienna from 22 to 26 October 2012 is being organised by ERTICO - ITS Europe in cooperation with ITS America and ITS Asia-Pacific along with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT).

For information and registration, visit the Congress website.

Registration is open, and a detailed programme is available online.

Meet the iMobility Forum Working Groups

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:28:29 +0200

On the occasion of the 19th ITS World Congress, iCar Support will host the iMobility Forum "Let’s Lunch" sessions on its stand (C30). Whilst enjoying our complimentary lunch, you will have the opportunity to discuss with iMobility Forum Working Group representatives the latest achievements and challenges of European mobility.

All day long, demonstrations by European projects (HeERO, Instant Mobility and Citylog) will allow you to discover the latest technological developments in ITS, and project presentations will further introduce the challenges ahead. What's more, the stand's networking areas will allow you to learn more about European iMobility projects, to meet your peers and to share ideas and best practices with them.

Discover the four hot topics of our "Let’s Lunch" sessions
(23-26 October 2012, 12:30-13:15)

Tuesday 23 October	Wednesday 24 October	Thursday 25 October	Friday 26 October
Research & Innovation Working Group	ICT for Clean & Efficient Mobility Working Group	Digital Maps Working Group	Vulnerable Road Users Working Group

For more information, visit the iCar Support website.

iMobility Awards 2012

On Friday 26 October (11:30 a.m.), the 2012 iMobility Awards will be given out by Vice-President and European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes to the people/teams who have made outstanding contributions to the acceleration of the development and deployment of ITS in Europe.

eCall Demonstration Area

On the iCar Support stand, HeERO project partners (Italian pilot site and Cinterion a Gemalto Company) will demonstrate how EU eCall works with the exhibition of a real eCall equipped car, HeERO-I and HeERO-II EU eCall compliant IVS solutions and through demonstrations of regular 112 EU eCall and 112 EU eCall in the so-called dormant mode – where the device will connect to the mobile network only in case of a 112 EU eCall, based on usage of a dormant MIM (MIM = automotive grade SIM).

From research to deployment – the FREILOT story

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 12:04:20 +0200

by Henry Wasung

The Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) was set up to run between 2007 and 2013 partly in response to the Lisbon European Council of March 2000, which set the objective of making the European Union the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. A lofty goal, but the CIP aimed to contribute by filling in the missing gap between R&D and actual deployment.

Vital elements of the CIP are its focus on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and a European-wide exchange of best practice. The CIP is divided into three programmes – the ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP) is the one that directly addresses ITS, with its focus on, inter alia, energy efficiency and sustainable mobility.

One interesting aspect of the CIP is its aim to redress the relatively slow uptake of ICT innovations, a theme which is often present in the ITS world.

FREILOT (Urban Freight Energy Efficiency Pilot), coordinated by ERTICO, was one of the first ITS projects financed under the CIP, starting in 2009 and running to September 2012. Logically, it is also one of the first ITS pilots under CIP to be completed. As such it offers interesting lessons not just in its own remit, that of urban freight efficiency, but also in general terms regarding the CIP itself.

FREILOT

FREILOT focuses on increasing energy efficiency in urban freight transport. This could be considered quite a narrow aim, or a specialised field, especially if one compares it to its parent project, CVIS.

But that is precisely its strength, says project coordinator Zeljko Jeftic, “Freight area is a field where positive business cases can be found even with limited scale implementations of ITS services. By having focused on these we could make real progress in a number of vital areas.”

Where to start? Firstly, urban freight transport is a hot political topic. If we look at the European level, urban freight transport ticks at least three of the six areas of the ITS Action Plan

•    Traffic and freight management
•    Road safety and security
•    Integrating ITS applications in the vehicle

Looking at national level and taking the United Kingdom as one extreme, urban freight transport proposals such as increasing truck size/weight are proving controversial, with cycling and road safety groups aghast at the prospect of ever larger trucks navigating city streets.

At a regional/city level, urban freight transport is high up in citizens’ concerns, and is thus often addressed by city mobility or transport plans. It is no coincidence that Helmond, the Netherlands, sporting a very ambitious Mobility Plan (Helmond Mobiel 2015), is one of the pilot cities in FREILOT. “Being one of Europe’s première pilot cities for ITS is not a feather in our cap, it is a real and necessary part of our efforts to make Helmond both a pleasant city to live and efficient in competing for business”, according to Gert Blom, City of Helmond Mobility Adviser, and winner of the iMobility Award (2011) for excellence in policy making. Likewise in Bilbao, the FREILOT pilot was part of the Urban Freight Distribution Optimisation Plan, underlining the commitment of the Municipality of Bilbao in this regard.

Secondly, by focusing on urban freight transport you have clearly defined stakeholders and already a notion of the business case. The key to deploying cooperative technology is working out who pays for what and how long it takes for the costs to be recouped. Even taking into account the progress made from the days of CIVS, when the computers needed filled half a trunk with a cost to match, to the current situation of a tablet PC or even an Android phone with a rather more agreeable price tag, the details of how the necessary roadside equipment should be installed and paid for will make or break the FREILOT system.

Thirdly, and quite simply, the roll-out of cooperative mobility technology has to start somewhere, and by focusing a one part of the potential market – and a highly competitive part where freight companies are always looking for an advantage – a cooperative mobility foothold can be secured which can then be expanded.

Another strength of the FREILOT is its à la carte approach. With a menu of five energy efficiency mobility options, city/road authorities and/or fleet operators can choose the services which contribute to their mobility goals. In this way, Helmond for example opted for intersection control, adaptive speed control, acceleration control and eco-driving support because taking into account the characteristics of the city and the 2015 Mobility Plan, it was freight transport using the city as a through route which was the main challenge. Whereas in Bilbao, to take another FREILOT pilot city, a major challenge is the congestion and inefficiency caused by double parked vehicles and illegally occupied loading bays. So in Bilbao, the city administration opted for real-time loading/delivery space booking.

Three years, six months

"It's certainly been an exhausting, if very rewarding, three and a half years", says Zeljko Jeftic. “From the beginning steps of adapting and fine-tuning the CVIS systems for FREILOT’s needs, to organising the pilot phase itself and disseminating it to meet the differing needs of each of the pilot sites, to analysing the large amounts of data and working out a detailed business plan, the enthusiasm and belief of the FREILOT partners have overcome all the challenges to produce a result we can all be proud of.”

So what has been achieved these past years? After the vital if unglamorous work of setting the project up and defining roles and procedures, the FREILOT consortium placed great emphasis on local launch events in the pilot cities in order to fully engage local partners, garner local, regional and national publicity according to the needs of each pilot (in Bilbao, to increase the number of participating trucks, in Helmond, to help secure the support of city politicians following the local elections) and to mark the start of the pilot phase.

The actual characteristics of the pilot phase varied hugely between the pilot sites. First of all, each pilot site opted for a different combination of FREILOT services. Secondly, even when the same service was piloted, the implementation could vary according to needs – and budget – of the pilot site. In Bilbao for instance, a whole new real-time loading/delivery space booking system was put in place, complete with LED lights installed in the loading bays indicating whether or not the bay was free, reserved, illegally occupied etc. Whereas Lyon opted for a simpler upgrade to its existing facilities, thanks in part to budgetary considerations.

The first major success in FREILOT was the expansion of the service offering beyond its core constituency – urban freight delivery – to other actors. In Helmond, the fire brigade joined the pilot phase. As Gert Blom put it, “The interest of the emergency service is an important spin-off which will further strengthen the Helmond after-project business case and help pave the way for FREILOT deployment in other European cities”. Likewise in Krakow, the FREILOT system was fitted to municipal busses, with the aim of increasing timetable accuracy by assigning greater intersection priority to busses running late.

The next success came from Spain. In April 2011 Bilbao and FREILOT received the National Award for Best Project of the Year in the field of freight transport. Amongst factors cited as reasons for the award were the fact that FREILOT was open to all freight companies operating in Bilbao, for FREILOT being fully integrated into the city’s mobility plan and for the pilot’s innovative character.

The next major success came in Helmond. With the intersection control service working well from the perspective of the city authorities, the equipment supplier and the freight company involved, things started moving very quickly with the announcement in September 2010 by Peek Traffic/Imtech of the first commercial platform for cooperative intelligent transport systems in Europe – based on FREILOT.

As Willem Hartman, Managing Director of Peek Nederland, said, “Cooperative systems ensure intelligent communication between vehicles as well as between vehicles and roadside systems. In recent years, Peek has acquired practical experience by participating in such successful European research projects as CVIS, Safespot and the FREILOT project in Helmond. There is a great demand for applying this technology. Imtech/Peek’s cooperative ITS platform meets the highest criteria of European standardisation and corresponds perfectly with Beter Benutten, a programme for making better use of infrastructure that has been launched by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment.”

During the FREILOT final event in June 2012, the Imtech/Peek announcement was complemented by the decision of Helmond municipality to continue the FREILOT services, thus meeting the CIP objective of ensuring piloted services survive the end of the pilot itself. Based on the positive results of the pilot phase, the partners involved (the Helmond Fire Brigade, the Municipality, Van den Broek Logistics and Imtech/Peek) are currently in talks to work out the final details of a commercial agreement.

This is a huge success for FREILOT and the CIP itself, as the above statement by Mr Hartman makes clear.

This success has also led to interest from another seven cities/regions, Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Eindhoven, Newcastle, Verona, Vigo, Thessaloniki, etc. in implementing FREILOT services themselves. Discussions are still ongoing but look promising according to Mr Jeftic – and meet the CIP objective of extending the services beyond the original pilot cities.

FREILOT has shown the real need for and utility of the European Commission’s Competitiveness and Innovation Programme. And paved the way for the commercial deployment of cooperative mobility solutions in Europe.

CIP lessons for the successful deployment of ITS solutions

by Eric Koenders (Peek/Imtech) and Henry Wasung

Focus on local needs, having in mind European implementation. In order to have a chance of expanding the service or continuing with it after the EU funding runs out, you need to show it works – but not (just ) to the Commission project officer. It is the local stakeholders, especially the local authorities, who need convincing.
- Language. Having promotional material – the FREILOT video, leaflets and posters, and the website itself – in all the FREILOT languages plus English was very important. As a CIP pilot, FREILOT went beyond the ITS community which might be expected to speak English fluently – freight delivery companies could in fact be very small, even one person with a truck, so communicating in the appropriate language was a necessity
- Local authorities. You need their support and advocacy
- City/local policy – what is it and how do you fit in?
- Local elections? Be prepared to explain everything from zero!
- Local laws! In Lyon FREILOT had to overcome an early challenge due to the incompatibility of one of the FREILOT service’s premises with French law (you cannot reserve a parking area for a particular class of vehicle)
- Good launch event per site. This will help all local stakeholders get on board and help in a myriad of ways
- Collaboration. Every pilot site will have to adapt to its own needs. Local collaboration must be very tight
- Embrace the unexpected. Fire brigade or bus service interested? This can only help! Why not contact the same groups in the other cities?
- Create ambassadors. Promote the idea.
User expectations
- Manage the expectations of the test users. Meet them regularly; explain that the system is being tested and that you need their feedback. If the system seems not to work, make sure you report on why and how it has been fixed. In Helmond on occasion it seemed the intersection control was not working leading to driver frustration and lack of trust in the system. The reason was that some traffic lights had been switch to local (non-network) setting, so could not be influenced by FREILOT. But this was part of city policy at rush hours.
- Progress reports for users. Help them help you!
- Users are part of the team. They should be kept interested through progress report, difficulties overcome…
- Separate display on the dashboard is only temporary! Its’ being tested. One day this extra screen will be integrated!
- Adapt to use – and find out why! If loading bays are not booked in advance, you need to find out why. Because the system is not adequate? Or because the loading bays are only for FREILOT and there are not enough users, so the truck can just turn up whenever they want (Bilbao example)?
Information exchange
- Find a way to keep everyone involved and feeling part of the effort – even when they are not directly involved at that stage.
Technology
- R&D to pilot is a big jump. Do not underestimate the “tweaking” needed!
- Standards. Don’t wait! – plan for upgrades
Cost and benefits
- Existing or off the shelf systems are cheaper. Remember, the aim is post-pilot deployment – so it must be realistic
- Prove the benefits for different stakeholders
- Interim results are important – meetings with stakeholders could happen at any time!
- Installation of equipment – cheaper if part of planned maintenance/upgrades
EU details
- Don’t be overambitious with news or newsletters – these should be used strategically pre/post major events and milestones
- Not every partner in a CIP has experience with EU projects! Make sure expectations are understood

Green shoots appear in China's transport network

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:34:33 +0200

How China is going from being the most polluting country in the world to investing in sustainable transport

by Carla Coppola

With 1.3 billion people, the most populous country in the world is also one of the fastest growing economies, coming a close second behind the USA in the race to be the largest (and most powerful) economy in the world. As of 2010, China is also the largest industrialised nation, accounting for a fifth of the global manufacturing and, despite what is well believed by elderly occidental generations, with middle class incomes increasing. This rise of the middle class is going to speed up to 30% a year and in 3 years time, according to the Economist, producing in China will be as convenient and easy as in North America with the difference that China will be more efficient. In the past decades, China has also shown a different attitude to the world by changing its centrally planned system in favour of a more market-oriented approach to international trade. The automobile market in China is the biggest in its category with 18.5 million vehicles sold in 2011; production has also increased by 4.8% in 2012 compared to the previous year and an increase of sales of 3.56% from January to July 2012 in respect to the same period in 2011.

The increase in quality of life in more and more Chinese families pushes them to buy new cars - often preferring Chinese own national models - despite the rising cost of imported oil and significant congestion problems. That is where the government has to take actions, and in part is already doing so, starting with the big metropolises. In a recent article published in the New York Times, Keith Bradsher describes how the municipal government of Guangzhou (15 million people and main manufacturing hub of the region) has introduced a license plate limit to tackle congestion problems.

Guangzhou's plan is in line with the ambition to improve citizens’ quality of life; in the past few years the city has seen a huge enlargement of the underground and rail tracks as well as the building of more green areas. According to Bradsher, NYT's Hong Kong bureau chief, China "is becoming a modern, industrialised economy whose leaders increasingly listen to public opinion and seek to balance the environment, social welfare and many other issues against economic growth and higher costs, to achieve a more balanced and sustainable economy".

Indeed energy efficiency, carbon emissions reduction and use of new energies are among the priorities of the 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015) designed by the People's Republic government. This plan sets up priorities for the transport sector, among others, and foresees an extension of the national road network with ambitions to reach 85,000 km of total motorway length and 300,000 km of total rural road length.

Regarding greener ambitions, the government has also launched side initiatives aiming to reach these goals including the China Green Freight Initiative (CGFI). This initiative, backed up by the Ministry of Transport and the China Road Transport Association (CRTA) in April 2012, represents a further step towards the country's fuel efficiency and reduction of emissions policy. The CGFI identifies priorities for the next 3 to 5 years beginning with establishing a strong cooperation amongst the stakeholders involved (government bodies, associations, private companies), as well as promoting the green freight concept and supporting good practices.

Put this way, China's incredibly fast development, large economy but significant amount of pollution is leading the Chinese government to rethink how they deal with the transport emissions. Transport is an essential vehicle of development but it is also one of the major polluters; China, like the EU, is starting to realise that it must attempt to deal with the increasing pressures put on its transport system to bring down pollution levels and try to provide more liveable cities.

That is why, despite the increase in car ownership, a great importance is given to railway networks and public transport in general as Yanying Li, Senior Project Manager at ERTICO, explains. "Sustainable transport is a very popular concept in China and ITS is providing a great help to the government to find new solutions to encourage people to use more public transport".

Dr Li is also the coordinator of the Viajeo project that, with its two test sites in China (Beijing and Shanghai), has the main scope to design and implement an open platform to facilitate data sharing and information exchanging, thus improving existing services and enabling new services. In Beijing, Viajeo offers real-time multimodal journey for public transport by using a bus data management system provided by Thetis (specialist in public transport). This is based on real time bus location from bus companies and floating vehicle data from the BTRC (Beijing Transport Research Institute) which provides a detailed information on current traffic situation. In Shanghai, the Viajeo platform also links traffic with air pollution data to better understand the impact of the road traffic on the environment. This will be done by using the parameters of the European Handbook of Emission Factors (HBEFA) which will help identify air pollution concentration in the city based on current traffic situations which can help short-term traffic management strategies and long-term planning.

Another interesting development of green development in China concerns electric bikes; already the leader of conventional bike production, China has recently imposed itself as the biggest producer and exporter of e-bikes with over 22 million units produced and 370,000 exported in 2009. A recent study conducted by Pike Research shows that the global market for e-bikes will increase drastically between 2012 and 2018, reaching the enormous amount of 47 million units sold in 2018 and generating a revenue of $11.9 billion (over €9 billion) by 2018. Unsurprisingly China is expected to account for 89% of the total market with 42 million of those electric vehicles.

Yet concerns emerge as e-bikes become the favourite means of transport in China. Electric bicycles are very energy efficient, however they are not entirely pollution-free (like any means of transport, including even human bodies). The batteries of the bikes tend to be manufactured from lead giving grave concerns about lead pollution, also the electricity used to recharge the vehicles come from the power grid relying either on coal or hydro power, depending on which part of the country they are used. Alternative - and more expensive - technologies are available and would involve a great effort from the government to persuade industry.

Nonetheless, despite lead pollution and safety concerns (cities like Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen have banned e-bikes from some districts) electric bicycles have the real advantage of improving mobility and accessibility. They are faster than conventional bikes and even if slower than buses, they allow users to be more mobile, especially for short trips, and ease the access to shops and services in ever growing congested cities. Without forgetting that there are many small businesses that rely on the use of these bikes, for example for carrying tools and goods.

Sustainability is a very trendy word these days and can mean many things but for countries like China it means research and investment above all. Despite the global financial crisis, China increased its national investments in research and development (R&D) devoting 5-10% of the total to transport research (estimate by the Ministry of Science and Technology - MOST). R&D funding includes investments in infrastructure, high-speed trains, electromobility, congestion reduction and mitigation of air pollution.

Competitive China is also showing interest in cooperating closely with international partners. Many activities involving European Union-China cooperation have been successfully completed; in May 2012 an EU delegation had a bilateral meeting on transport and ITS in Beijing. During this meeting several common priorities were identified such as smart mobility, energy efficiency and standardisation, with the meeting concluding with a declaration of intent to continue the information exchange between the EU and China and the cooperation on these priorities.

However some negative factors have a strong impact on international cooperation. According to a study conducted by Dr Li, the players involved in this cooperation share different priorities as European researchers focus on demonstrating and establishing already existing products and technologies, while generally Chinese researchers are more competitiveness oriented. Last but not least "Chinese researchers are often surprised by how little knowledge on China and Chinese research activities foreign partners have".

This is a crucial point. China is among the players who can really make the difference in the global economy and not only in the transport and ITS industry. Other players need to recognise that China can provide solutions and examples itself, and must learn more about Chinese conditions and research priorities if they wish to fully benefit from partnership.

The year of the mighty dragon is only half way through and will be followed by the year of the snake, a great mediator and very good at doing business.

For more information on ERTICO activities in China, please contact Vincent Blervaque.

Interview with Martin Howell, Cubic Transportation Systems

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:14:20 +0200

ERTICO: Can you describe the activities of Cubic Transportation Systems in ITS?

Martin Howell: Cubic Transportation Systems is the leading integrator of payment, information technology and services for intelligent travel solutions.

Although we have a revenue collection heritage going back nearly 40 years, we recognise that the world is now changing faster than ever before. The global population is growing at a tremendous rate, metropolitan and suburban areas are ‘morphing’ into mega-cities reducing the distance between those cities, towns and commercial and industrial districts. As a global population, we’re all increasingly aware of the environmental impact of our journey choices and the need to change our behaviour. All of these factors equal more transport journeys and a need to consider how each of us will go about our journeys in the future. In response to this, Cubic has devised a vision for how to help keep the world on the move into this evolving future, which we call Nextcity. Nextcity articulates our view of how the ITS of the future will work, based on our experience with some of the world’s largest cities. Nextcity envisions a fully-integrated whole of transport, journey and payments management systems – it is aimed not only towards transport operators but also regional transport planners who manage demand across the infrastructure of whole cities or regions. It aims to help them to regulate demand by setting fees across all modes of transport within a region, as well as empowering their customers with targeted, precise information to manage how they travel. It will maximise the benefit of truly real-time traveller information - mobile apps, message signs, tolling and usage charging, parking accounts, journey planning systems – all these, and more, have a part to play, but need to be integrated within an over-arching plan.

Today, a person’s journey choice is likely to be influenced by three factors: the overall cost, the timeliness and the reliability of the mode of transport. And increasingly, as societies, we are adding a fourth dimension: the environmental impact. If transport stakeholders can understand, at a macro and micro level, which factors are most prevalent in causing congestion points and bottlenecks in their cities, they can take appropriate action to vary these factors to influence demand and therefore maximise supply. Well planned and managed networks, using all the available and emerging technologies will deliver a positive impact on all four of these critical deciding factors.

To achieve this they will require more dynamic systems and attempts are already being made to address this. In public transport, operators have attempted to level demand using peak and off-peak fares. In private transport modes, particularly motor vehicles, regulators have tried to manage demand by increasing parking costs, introducing toll systems, and latterly, variable tolls, with congestion charging being the most recent method of demand management. These solutions are playing an important role – but to be effective the whole-of-transport must be integrated.

Our experience in delivering ground-breaking systems gives us the advantage of already having taken the first major steps towards true integration in cities as diverse as London and Chicago. We definitely see ERTICO as an organisation within which we can forge relationships to progress this vision.

ERTICO: Why have you joined ERTICO - ITS Europe? What are your expectations for this partnership?

Martin Howell: Operating as we do in several regions across Europe, we see ERTICO as a great forum to exchange ideas, to stimulate debate and to influence thinking which will go into funding allocation and policy formation. It is where many of Europe’s great cities come to find out, from each other and from their potential partners what might be possible. We certainly believe that ITS has a massive role to play in reducing the environmental impact of all forms of travel, and have many ideas and plans that can help that to become real. And ERTICO is where much of the thinking about funding and sensible allocation of public money is done, as cities and regions work to balance citizen need, economic demands and environmental goals. Our expectation in joining ERTICO is that we can learn much from that debate, can bring our global experience to inform it wherever possible, and perhaps most importantly, we hope we can learn from the diverse membership what they see as possible, what they want to achieve and how they think it can be done.

ERTICO: Are there any projects, activities or sectors within the ERTICO Partnership you are particularly interested in?

Martin Howell: I think we will learn much more as we become more fully involved and represented. But already, I have been amazed by how aligned ERTICO is with what we believe the future holds - in AFC, in mobility, in NFC, in tolling, and in pan-European interoperability. I look forward to taking part. In fact, perhaps I should buy a Eurostar season ticket!

ERTICO: What do you imagine cities will look like in terms of Mobility in 10 years time?

Martin Howell: There will certainly be progress towards truly integrated transport systems. In Europe, our transport systems have, in many cases, been in place for a long time and building new infrastructure is not easy – either economically or geographically. For that, and other reasons, I have a feeling that progress will not be as momentous as it could be in the short term.

Technical developments (brilliant apps, broader bandwidth, speed of communications and speed of data crunching, to name just a few) are continuing apace, but their implementation, in many cities, is piecemeal and fragmented. I think many in the industry can see opportunities that now exist, but are frustrated that political, economic or regulatory influences and barriers are leading operators and authorities to think maybe too timidly and narrowly.
However, with the aid of forward thinking policy makers and suppliers, perhaps some places will be there - Chicago, London and Vancouver are all on a path to true integration. These cities will be the models for others to follow. There are huge opportunities and equally big challenges – I hope that with the industry working with governments through forums such as ERTICO, we can help to overcome those challenges and see real change being effected.

ERTICO: What do you think is missing in the development, technical or political, of ITS today to change the mobility of both people and goods to meet the scenario you described above?

Martin Howell: The creativity is there, without a doubt. The technology to achieve true integration is already there and in many cases well-proven. And the public acceptance of the use of technology in making these changes in our lives is also growing, thanks to the ubiquity of powerful smartphones. What needs to change is that bold decisions have to be made in the interests of the longer-term. These must be made by national governments and regional transport planners, informed by the proven experience of the leading integrators and technology providers.

It would be great to see an increasing shift to integrated regional planning, where an overview is taken to encompass both public transport and road policy by a single planning authority – such as you already see in Sydney, San Francisco or London. Change is never easy and more proving and debate will undoubtedly be needed, but ERTICO is definitely a great facilitator for those discussions to take place.

About Cubic Transportation Systems

Cubic provides integrated solutions which help transport operators manage their operations and services and give their passengers real choices in the smartest and easiest ways to pay their fares. Cubic delivers total solutions incorporating design, development, manufacturing, supply, installation, integration, services and information. Our services include on-site management, central systems, operations support, user support, business support and field services.

Every year, over 10 billion journeys are taken worldwide using Cubic payment and information systems. Cubic has delivered over 400 projects in 40 major markets on five continents. Active projects include London; Brisbane (Southeast Queensland) region, Australia; New York/New Jersey region; Washington, D.C /Baltimore/Virginia region; Los Angeles region; San Diego region; San Francisco region; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Chicago; Atlanta region; Miami (South Florida) region; Vancouver and Edmonton, Canada; Sydney (New South Wales), Australia; and Scandinavia.

ITS VIdeo Competition Second Round

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:09:51 +0200

Five thousand votes received for the first-round of the 2012 ITS Video Competition

As the first-round of voting has closed in the 2012 ITS video competition, we would like to thank everyone who took the time to enter.

We have been overwhelmed with the quality and quantity of entrants in this year’s competition, and more than five thousand votes were submitted during four days of public voting. The videos highlight many of the fascinating projects, products and services that are currently underway in the ITS industry, and the production work demonstrates the high level of imagination and artistic talent that is being employed.

From over fifty entrants, the eight highest scoring videos in each category have been shortlisted and will now be judged by a panel of ITS Experts.

Those two categories/shortlists are:

Shortlist One: Videos aimed at the general public	Shortlist Two: Videos aimed at the ITS Community
Driven - Helmond City of Smart Mobility	Xerox. Dynamic pricing makes parking simple
LA Express Park Explained	TomTom HD Traffic: the best traffic information
Magic-Eye: Innovation for a new driving experience	Ibeo - Passion for Scanning
WirelessCar - Telematics made easy	Nextcity -- Making the Vision of Intelligent Travel a Reality
Park4U Demo (Valeo Gro)	NEWADA (Network of Danube Waterway Administrations
VicRoads	Welcome to the connected society! (Volvo Group)
Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems: Safe and Sustainable Transport	Autotalks - world's first vehicle-to-vehicle communication VLSI
One hour of FLEET	RISING - River Information Services for Transport & Logistics

The expert judges now have the extremely difficult task of choosing the best three videos in each category, and these finalists will then take part in a live competition during the VIP dinner at this year’s ITS World Congress in Vienna.

Once again, we would like to thank all the entrants for their submissions and we hope you will all take part again in next year’s competition.

The three finalists in each category will be announced after 27 September and all of the videos submitted to this year’s competition will be on permanent display at the ERTICO stand (D30) during the ITS World Congress in Vienna. If you haven’t already done so, you may also view them online here.

The 2012 ITS Video Competition follows on from the success of the inaugural 2011 Video Competition, culminating at the European ITS Congress in Lyon. The winner was “Young Thoughts on Future Travel” by the Stockholm City Traffic Administration.

EUTRAIN workshop presentations are now available

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 09:53:06 +0200

On 6 September ERTICO organised the second regional workshop in Beijing. The workshop focused on international transport research cooperation in the South Asia and Asia Pacific countries.

During the workshop the following topics were discussed:

Themes of interest for international transport research cooperative work
Conditions and prospects for facilitating such research cooperation
Ways forward in the future for all the countries

Download the final agenda.

Download the presentations:

Patrick Mercier-Handisyde
Caroline Almeras
Koichi Noguchi
DENG Xiaoyong
Damien Hense
Dr T.G. Sitharam
John Tunna
Mats Rosenquist
Damien Hense - 2
Dr Yanying Li

For more information about EUTRAIN’s activities please contact Yanying Li.

ERTICO is hiring

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:12:23 +0200

ERTICO – ITS Europe is a multi-sector, public/private partnership pursuing the development and deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS). ITS - Intelligent Transport Systems and Services - is the integration of information and communications technology with transport infrastructure, vehicles and users in order to improve the transport system as a whole including issues related to road safety, traffic efficiency, environmental issues and system and infrastructure security.

We are currently seeking to recruit a full-time (m/f) Project Manager and Project Assistant.

Horizon 2020 - Video testimonials

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:16:19 +0200

Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness. Running from 2014 to 2020 with an €80 billion budget, the EU’s new programme for research and innovation is part of the drive to create new growth and jobs in Europe.

Horizon 2020 found testimonials to raise awareness on the programme. Every day researchers, scientists and policy makers answer to a question concerning research and innovation. Paul Kompfner, Head of Sector at ERTICO, is among these testimonials and, in this video, shares his view on how research and innovation is making a difference for a better future.

View all the video testimonials

TTS Italia at the 19th ITS World Congress

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:37:18 +0200

TTS Italia, the Italian ITS Association, will host a joint stand (E60) at the 19th ITS World Congress in Vienna (22-26 October). At the stand several TTS Italia Members will be represented including 5t, Autostrade Tech, Famas System, Istituto Superiore Mario Boella, Magneti Marelli, Pluservice, Sistema, Swarco Mizar and Telespazio.

TTS Italia Members will present their latest solutions and projects on ITS with a special focus on transport and road safety.

Fondazione Formit will also be on the stand with the i-Tour Project in which TTS Italia is participating as stakeholder.

Other companies from the Piemonte Region will also be participating via the Piemonte Agency for Investments, Exports and Tourism.

Instant Mobility has launched an online survey for professional drivers

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:07:50 +0200

Instant Mobility intends to create a virtual transport and mobility platform, based on what the proposed future services will allow. These service include: a) optimised itineraries planning, b) updated guidance thanks to real time and precise knowledge of the traffic status, c) rescheduling of itineraries according to delivery demands, and d) load/parcel exchanges between drivers, all of this in a personalised approach integrating eco-driving assistance for drivers.

The aim of Instant Mobility is to take into account the needs of the professional drivers from the conceptual phase of the services through the collaborative design of these services. Drivers are asked to propose the best solution and assess these future services in terms of how they could improve their work and how these changes would be received.

To this aim, Instant Mobility organises online surveys for professional drivers in several European countries:

In English: http://www.tfaforms.com/252331

In Dutch: http://www.tfaforms.com/257569

En español: http://www.tfaforms.com/260986

En français: http://www.tfaforms.com/253923

Vote now for your favourite ITS videos in the 2012 ITS video competition…

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:43:53 +0200

…and help propel ITS deployment to a new level!

Click here to see the videos and vote!

52 ITS Videos have been submitted for the 2012 ITS Video Competition from all round the world.

Help drive forward the deployment of ITS – and reward the best ITS videos!

The winning videos will be shown during the closing ceremony of the ITS World Congress!

What's next? Vote, vote, vote!

The videos receiving the most votes in each category will be placed on a short list to be deliberated over by the ITS expert committee. A final vote will be held at the VIP dinner at the ITS World Congress in Vienna, 22-26 October 2012.

All videos will be shown at the ERTICO stand (D30) at the ITS World Congress in Vienna!

The members of the 2012 ITS Video Competition Expert Committee are:

Hajime Amano, President, ITS Japan
Scott Belcher, President and CEO, ITS America
Juhani Jaaskelaainen, Adviser for ICT for Transport and Energy, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Jennie Martin, Chairman, the National Network of ITS Associations
Hermann Meyer, CEO, ERTICO – ITS Europe
Ingolf Schaedler, Deputy Director General, Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Austria
Pawel Stelmaszczyk, Head of Unit - ITS, DG MOVE, European Commission

The purpose of this video competition is to reach out to citizens and policy makers showing the potential and need of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services to create a better future with less accidents, fewer fatalities and injured people, less congestion, cleaner and more comfortable mobility. It follows on from the success of the 2011 video competition, culminating at the European ITS Congress in Lyon.

The 2012 ITS Video Competition is organised by ERTICO – ITS Europe, ITS America and ITS Asia Pacific, the host organisation of the Vienna ITS Congress and the Network of National ITS Associations, and in conjunction with the i-Mobility Network.

2012 ITS Video Competition Expert Committee announced

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:10:57 +0200

The membership of the 2012 ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems and Services) Video Competition Expert Committee has been confirmed. High level ITS figures from the America, Asia Pacific and Europe have come together to select the three finalists in each category ahead of the final vote held at the ITS World Congress, held in Vienna, 22-26 October 2012.

Hermann Meyer, CEO, ERTICO – ITS Europe, said on behalf of his colleagues from the 2012 ITS Video Competition Expert Committee, “We are all most excited about the 2012 ITS Video Competition in recognition of the potential of the medium in driving forward the deployment of ITS, and thus contributing to safer, cleaner and more efficient travel. ITS offers real solutions now to today’s travel challenges – we should use every medium and opportunity to reflect this”.

The 2012 ITS Video Competition encourages the effective use of videos to reach out to citizens and policy makers showing the potential and need of ITS to create a better future with less accidents, fewer fatalities and injured people, less congestion, cleaner and more comfortable mobility.

The 2012 ITS Video Competition Expert Committee will judge the ITS videos submitted by companies, universities, public authorities and other organisation in the two categories – videos directed at the general public and videos directed at the ITS community – in order to produce three finalists in each category. The finalists will be shown during the VIP dinner at the ITS World Congress, and the VIPs will vote for the winners.

Submissions remain open until Friday 7 September end of day.

The members of the 2012 ITS Video Competition Expert Committee are:

Hermann Meyer, CEO, ERTICO – ITS Europe
Scott Belcher, President and CEO, ITS America
Hajime Amano, President, ITS Japan
Pawel Stelmaszczyk, Head of Unit - ITS, DG MOVE, European Commission
Juhani Jaaskelaainen, Adviser for ICT for Transport and Energy, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Ingolf Schaedler, Deputy Director General, Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Austria
Jennie Martin, Chairman, the National Network of ITS Associations

See all the ITS videos here. To submit a video, or for more information, click here.

The 2012 ITS Video Competition follows on from the success of the inaugural 2011 Video Competition, culminating at the European ITS Congress in Lyon. The winner was “Young Thoughts on Future Travel” by the Stockholm City Traffic Administration.

For more information contact Henry Wasung.

ITS New Zealand Summit 2012 - Report by President Peter McCombs

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 09:33:43 +0200

A major event on the ITS New Zealand calendar this year has been the very successful ITS Summit 2012 centred on the significant contribution that ITS and its applications make in disaster recovery and in improving the safety, efficiency and convenience of all modes of travel. The event was held in two centres beginning with the ITS Forum in Wellington featuring international and national speakers. It was opened by the Hon Simon Bridges, Associate Minister for Transport who welcomed the range of international delegates and their contribution to the role and benefits of intelligent transport systems in assisting disaster recovery.

A range of international speakers included the President of ITS Japan and Secretary General of ITS Asia Pacific, Mr Hajime Amano who spoke of the road to recovery following the major earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Other presentations included ITS in crisis management, ITS applications for safety, and the ITS role following the damaging Christchurch earthquakes of September 2010 and February 2011. The roundtable discussions centred on the application of ITS in being better prepared and improving disaster emergency response operations.

The second day was the Smarter Transport Safety Summit held in Auckland centred on the deployment needs and applications of smart technology in transport safety. For the second consecutive year the Hon. Maurice Williamson attended the summit and supplied a source of passion and motivation to all present towards new and emerging technologies. He opened the day by presenting a well-received and insightful presentation about the needs and benefits of tailoring information to the intended recipient and the challenges of new and emerging technologies.

A particular highlight was a video presentation by Dr Hermann Meyer, CEO of ERTICO, describing their recent progress and innovations with ITS in advancing transport safety, traveller information and network efficiency. Other international speakers included Professor Jason Chang from ITS Taiwan who spoke on the ITS role in assisting vulnerable users and public transport. Mr Akatsuka of ITS Japan and Ms Susan Harris of ITS Australia gave presentations highlighting their experience with ITS transport safety applications.

The New Zealand presentations featured innovative safety applications within the NZ ITS Industry and recent contributions to NZ’s continued growth in this sector. These included NZ’s National Traffic Management System, the most recent SUNA Live Traffic Update services, the next generation of IP based Communications Services, innovations in Tunnel Safety Management, and application of the Smart Safety Tidal Flow Barrier on Auckland’s Harbour Bridge.

The occasion was a significant success in widening awareness of the use and application of technologies that improve the safety, security and efficiency of all of the surface transportation system.

Hermann Meyer presentation

Garmin Live Traffic: Simpler, Quicker and without subscription

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 11:48:15 +0200

TISA Member Garmin, the global leader in satellite navigation, is ready to change the impact of traffic for its customers forever by providing its fastest and most accurate 3D traffic services to date.

Garmin is teaming with another TISA Member INRIX, leaders in the field of traffic intelligence technology to provide up-to-the-minute traffic information across the DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) network. By leveraging the latest breakthroughs in DAB technology, INRIX will help Garmin deliver better, more detailed live traffic data, updated more frequently and without an internet connection. This new generation of “Garmin 3D Traffic Live” will provide Garmin customers access to fully featured live traffic information without any subscription costs, meaning Garmin is able to offer subscription free live traffic services for life!

Garmin 3D Traffic

“We have seen, through the success of our satnavs with lifetime maps, that customers want a great service but do not want to worry about paying future subscriptions”, said Clive Taylor Director of EMEA Product Marketing. “With this new technology Garmin customers will receive the latest live traffic information on their GPS device and not have to think about subscriptions anymore”.

Real time traffic information: Digital broadcasting offers two main advantages, in comparison to TMC (Traffic Message Channel) or the GSM network, which has been used so far to provide live traffic information. Firstly larger data volumes (about 80x higher bandwidth than TMC) are submitted, which results in traffic that is more accurate, covers a broader geographic area, and more detailed than previously possible over broadcast networks. Secondly it is increasing the speed of updating the live traffic information to every minute, over twice as fast in comparison to current services. This “real time information” provides drivers with earlier warning to traffic incidents helping them to avoid frustrating delays.

Clear traffic avoidance: All the information, which finds its way to the Garmin GPS device appears in an easy and clear way both visually and audibly. Through sophisticated analysis of billions of real-time data points from hundreds of sources including a community of more than 100 million drivers, INRIX provides Garmin with traffic information accurate within 2 mph of actual traffic speeds. Whether drivers’ travels take them across town or cross-country, Garmin customers will benefit from a service that provides them with the best route guidance and most accurate journey times.

Garmin 3D Traffic Live-kick off in UK in cooperation with INRIX

The United Kingdom will be the first market where Garmin will introduce the new technology. This is expected to be on the recently announced Dezl 760 which is available at the end of the year. INRIX crowd sources data on a daily basis from approximately 100 million vehicles and devices to deliver traffic and driving-related insight, as well as sophisticated analytical tools and services, across six channels in 31 countries.

Source: Garmin

iCar Support at the 19th ITS World Congress

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:58:02 +0200

On 22 to 26 October 2012 ERTICO - ITS EUROPE is organising, in close cooperation with its counterpart regional organisations and the Host organisation, the 19th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS) in Vienna, Austria.

Meet iCar Support at this event and visit our stand: from 22 to 26 October 2012, the iCar Support stand will host its so-called ‘Let’s Lunch’ sessions, where the Working Groups of the iMobility Forum will present their work and achievements. What's more, the stand's networking areas will allow you to learn more about European iMobility projects, to meet your peers and to share ideas with them.

Discover the four hot topics that will be presented during these sessions:
-    23 October: Research & Innovation
-    24 October: Clean and Efficient Mobility
-    25 October: Digital Maps
-    26 October: Vulnerable Road Users

Do not miss out on the 2nd edition of the iMobility Awards: join us on the iCar Support stand on Friday 26 October (11:30 am) and discover the names of the people/teams who have made a difference in the ITS community by contributing to the acceleration of the development and deployment of ITS in Europe.

We look forward to seeing you there!

For further information, please visit the iCar Support website.

Kapsch TrafficCom IVHS Wins Washburn Tunnel Incident Detection System Project in Houston

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 10:47:14 +0200

Kapsch TrafficCom AG (ISIN AT000KAPSCH9), listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange in the prime market segment, informs that its subsidiary Kapsch TrafficCom IVHS has been selected by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to execute and deliver an integrated Incident Detection System (IDS) for the Washburn Tunnel in Houston, Texas. The project scope for Kapsch encompasses the installation, commissioning, training and maintenance required to support 14 fixed roadway cameras for bidirectional traffic in the vehicular tunnel and up to 6 infrared detection cameras in the ventilation tunnel. Launched in March 2012, the award-winning Kapsch IDS 2.0 delivers a non-invasive turnkey solution for zone-less event detection for vehicle traffic and intrusion detection in ventilation tunnels, enabling Washburn tunnel operators to provide 24/7 surveillance while minimising operational expenses otherwise necessary to continuously monitor traffic.

“Incident detection in tunnels and on the open road is critical to maintaining traffic flow and keeping drivers safe,” said Chris Murray, President and CEO, Kapsch TrafficCom IVHS. “This award is significant for Kapsch as it enables us to gain entry to the IDS market in the U.S. and deliver the same high-performing IDS solutions found in 37 references worldwide. We look forward to working with TxDOT on this important project while continuing to expand our strong customer base in Texas.”

"We look forward to working with Kapsch TrafficCom on the first tunnel IDS installation in the state of Texas and providing our drivers with an even safer and reliable passage under the Houston Ship Channel," said Craig Spivey, Special Projects Technician, Harris County Engineering.

“This award is further evidence that we arrived in the world of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) in which we will, in line with our strategy, increasingly provide applications even beyond electronic toll collection (ETC). At the same time, it is the second award within short time in Texas, one of the fastest growing USA states in terms of population, which will require, among other things, to address the need of maintaining and building infrastructure”, says Georg Kapsch, CEO of Kapsch TrafficCom Group.

Kapsch Incident Detection System (IDS) 2.0
The Kapsch IDS 2.0 delivers an innovation-driven solution for processing video stream from existing cameras which are relevant for automatic incident detection, traffic data gathering, and movement detection. The following event detections and functionality are included with the system and based on video analysis of the vehicular tunnel: automatic camera calibration, wrong direction detection, slow vehicle, stopped vehicle, traffic jam, lost cargo, pedestrian on road, smoke, movement in non-traffic area, speed measurement, classification (2 classes), vehicle counting, distance measurement and statistical data. For the ventilation tunnel, intrusion detection is offered and can identify all living persons and animals five pounds and greater.

Washburn Tunnel
Completed in 1950, the Washburn Tunnel is the South’s largest and first toll-free vehicular tunnel connecting Galena Park and Pasadena, two suburbs of Harris County in Houston, Texas. The two-lane tunnel spans 3,791 ft. and travels north-south underneath the Houston Ship Channel. The Washburn Tunnel is the only underwater vehicle tunnel in operation in Texas.

For additional information, please visit Kapsch website or contact Marcus Handl.

interactIVe Summer School report

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:17:17 +0200

More than 70 participants arrived on Corfu Island in Greece, from 4 to 6 July 2012, in order to attend the project’s Summer School. During this event project partners, stakeholders from the automotive industry and PhD students had the opportunity to discover the state-of-the-art on Perception Systems, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) for safer and more efficient driving as well as the interactIVe latest developments and results.

During the six Summer School tutorials prominent speakers from academia and industry, from Europe and abroad gave very interesting and up to date presentations on a wide range of topics from sensor interfaces and fusion modules, to driver support, emergency intervention, vehicle path control, perception platforms and ADAS applications. After each session the participants had the opportunity to discuss with them the latest developments on the areas of their core research. The themes presented in the Summer School Tutorials are listed below:

Day 1 - Wednesday 4 July 2012
Tutorial 01: Driving Environment Perception and Active Intervention on EU
During the first tutorial the project coordinator, Aria Etemad, as well as the Summer School organiser, Dr Angelos Amditis, welcomed all participants. Following this, an overview of the interactIVe project and its challenges, fusion in past EU projects and inside interactIVe, the continuous support of the driver functionality followed in interactIVe as well as the modelling and simulation of vehicle dynamics for active safety systems were presented.

Tutorial 02: Interaction and Warning Strategies
In the second tutorial the audience had the opportunity to learn about the state-of–the-zrt in highly automated driving, the different levels of automation, the design challenges for a proper human-machine-interaction system and gain more insight in issues related to the arbitration between driver and automation.

Day 2 - Thursday 5 July 2012
Tutorial 03: Sensor Fusion and Automotive Applications in Practice
In the second day of the Summer School the focus was on sensor data fusion and practical automotive applications. Initially a cooperative ACC system combining sensor and V2V communication data to improve performance, driver acceptance and highway capacity was highlighted followed by a presentation of highly accurate digital maps for vehicle self-localisation using landmarks. In the following a presentation of commercial applications which exploit the benefits of sensor data fusion and a collision avoidance application based on camera and radar fusion were also presented. The tutorial closed with discussion and questions among the speakers and the participants.

Tutorial 04: Active Safety and Collision Mitigation Advanced Applications
In the afternoon of the same day the audience attended another set of interesting presentations. In the first part the focus was on decision making and threat assessment for automotive collision avoidance as well as on the actual evaluation of ADAS in the field using the example of the euroFOT project. The presentation that followed was relevant to environment perception for automated vehicles, the challenges and the future trends in this filed. Finally, the session ended with a statistical approach on how the driver perceives the threat in rear-end collisions which cannot be avoided.

Day 3 - Friday 6 July 2012
Tutorial 05: Sensor Fusion and Multi-target Tracking Theory (I)
During the last day of the Summer School the participants had the opportunity to learn and discuss about the advances in multi-sensor fusion and multi-target tracking theory. Specifically, advanced multi-sensor fusion methods and applications, grid based fusion and multi-sensor calibration, were illustrated.

Tutorial 06: Sensor Fusion and Multi-target Tracking Theory (II)
The same afternoon the presentations focused on sensor fusion and target tracking issues continued. An enhanced situational awareness approach through multi-platform data fusion towards affordable autonomy in urban settings opened the session. Presentations concerning models and filters for camera based multi-target tracking and sigma point estimation techniques and their application in the Kalman filter framework were also discussed.

Finally, poster and demo sessions took place during the Summer School where 16 technical posters and one demonstration were available to the attendees highlighting the latest technological developments in the abovementioned fields.

More information about the interactIVe Summer School can be found in the project’s official website.

The University of the Basque Country is leading a project to modernise communications in the emergency services

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:19:34 +0200

A research team in the Department of Communications Engineering of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) is leading the European Project GERYON which is seeking to improve and modernise the communications used by the emergency services. Firstly, it sets out to eliminate the incompatibilities existing among certain systems in order to facilitate interconnection among ambulances, firefighters, police, etc. And secondly, to combine the best of each system: the security of the classical emergency transmitters with the multimedia capability offered by the broadband of the 4G networks. GERYON, which got going in December 2011, is scheduled to take 30 months, has funding of 2.5 million euros from the European Commission, and a total budget of 3.5 million. Apart from the UPV/EHU, another six European organisations, including the Basque organisations Itelazpi and Grupo CYS, are participating in it.

GERYON is being led by the UPV/EHU in the person of Dr Fidel Liberal, who is the general coordinator and a researcher of the NQaS (Networking Quality and Security) group located at the Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao. Seven members of this group are in fact participating in the Project. They specialise in the LTE standard (used by the new 4G mobile devices) and in IMS, a mechanism that manages modern multimedia communications. As Liberal explains, the contribution that NQaS is making to the project focusses on “developing mechanisms to enable the latest mobile networks to provide communications that are just as robust and secure as the emergency networks and, likewise, that will allow high-quality multimedia photos, videos and data to be transmitted.”

Enhancing TETRA
Today, the communications systems of the emergency services have significant incompatibility problems. For example, two networks may have the same technology yet be unable to connect with each other for the simple reason that they come from different manufacturers. “This hampers operations when it comes to co-ordinating an emergency involving more than one of these bodies, and the problem is much greater if we consider crisis situations affecting several countries, because the technological difficulties are compounded by others to do with different operations, hierarchy and ways of working. That accounts for the European interest in the project," explains Liberal.

But that is not the only problem. Today, emergency transmitters offer unbeatable quality in terms of audio and security, but they lack other features that would be very valuable in emergency situations and which, paradoxically, are in fact offered by any mid end mobile device. “It is not unusual to see a member of an emergency team receive an order over his or her walkie-talkie and then take out his/her mobile phone to check out addresses, data of interest, etc.” points out the co-ordinator.

These are some of the shortcomings of, for example, TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) technology, a standard European network currently used by many emergency services. “TETRA is designed to be robust, secure, but on the other hand, its capacity to send and receive photos, video and information is very limited,” says Liberal. The idea behind GERYON is in fact to develop all this over TETRA, and improve it: “We are not planning to substitute this technology, but to complement it so as to get the best of both worlds.”

Multimedia terminals
With today’s walkie-talkies the various emergency services can talk with the maximum levels of security and clarity. The idea of this project is to make available multimedia terminals that make this possible and much more: Internet access, the sending of photos and videos of the emergencies, browsing systems, etc. “It will be possible to avail oneself of much fuller information than is the case at present, and in real time, thus facilitating co-ordination among the different teams,” says the co-ordinator. And not just the teams that handle emergencies. The platform being proposed would also be advantageous for the members of the public who, through their smartphones, will be able to communicate with the emergency services more effectively: “Something along the lines of an improved emergency number 112.”

GERYON is still in its early days, as it is not expected to be completed until halfway through 2014. So far, the researchers have concentrated mainly on gathering information from the emergency services to see what their priorities are. “On the basis of these needs and an exhaustive analysis of the LTE, IMS and TETRA capabilities, the phase dealing with the general design of the system has been virtually completed. It will consist of using IMS as the basis to deploy these services and interconnect the various networks,” concludes Liberal.

Source: Basque Research

The 9th issue of the DG MOVE Newsletter has been published

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:55:43 +0200

This special issue is dedicated to the 4th European Road Safety Day, which took place on 25 July 2012 in Nicosia (Cyprus). The conference was organised by the European Commission, the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union (Ministry of Communications and Works) and the Cyprus Youth Organisation for Road Safety, REACTION.

The conference focused on young people and road safety. Representatives of youth groups and road safety officials and organisations from all EU countries and neighbouring regions were invited. The conference gave participants the opportunity to exchange views, share good practices and propose practical steps – at national and regional level – to make young people safer on the road.

You can download the Newsletter here.

The 2012 ITS Video Competition – just two weeks left to send in your submissions!

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 11:22:28 +0200

Help drive forward the deployment of ITS – and reach the widest possible audience through the use of ITS promotional videos! Ensure the maximum possible exposure for your ITS promotional video!

Following the success of the 2011 ITS Video Competition held at the European ITS Congress in Lyon, ERTICO – ITS Europe is pleased to invite submissions for this year’s competition!

To submit your entry, simply fill in the form, specifying if the video is aimed at the general public or the ITS community. Your video will be embedded on the ERTICO, ITS Vienna 2012, Network of National ITS Associations and i-Mobility Network websites.

Submit your ITS video

See the current entrants!

DOT launches largest-ever road test of connected vehicle crash avoidance technology

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 09:30:30 +0200

Nearly 3,000 vehicles will send Wi-Fi-like signals that warn of safety hazards, could help reduce crashes during year-long research project

Nearly 3,000 cars, trucks and buses equipped with “connected” Wi-Fi technology to enable vehicles and infrastructure to “talk” to each other in real time to help avoid crashes and improve traffic flow will begin traversing Ann Arbor’s streets as part of a year-long safety pilot project by the US Department of Transport. USA Transport Secretary Ray LaHood joined elected officials and industry and community leaders on the University of Michigan campus to launch the second phase of the Safety Pilot, the largest road test to date of connected vehicle crash avoidance technology.

“Today is a big moment for automotive safety,” said Secretary LaHood. “This cutting-edge technology offers real promise for improving both the safety and efficiency of our roads. That is a winning combination for drivers across America.”

Conducted by University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), the road test, or model deployment, is a first-of-its-kind test of connected vehicle technology in the real world. The test cars, trucks and buses, most of which have been supplied by volunteer participants, are equipped with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication devices that will gather extensive data about system operability and its effectiveness at reducing crashes.

According to DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), V2V safety technology could help drivers avoid or reduce the severity of four out of five unimpaired vehicle crashes. To accomplish this, the model deployment vehicles will send electronic data messages, receive messages from other equipped vehicles, and translate the data into a warning to the driver during specific hazardous traffic scenarios. Such hazards include an impending collision at a blind intersection, a vehicle changing lanes in another vehicle’s blind spot, or a rear collision with a vehicle stopped ahead, among others.

“Vehicle-to-vehicle communication has the potential to be the ultimate game-changer in roadway safety – but we need to understand how to apply the technology in an effective way in the real world,” said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland. “NHTSA will use the valuable data from the ‘model deployment’ as it decides if and when these connected vehicle safety technologies should be incorporated into the fleet.”

The model deployment is the second phase of DOT’s connected vehicle Safety Pilot, a major research initiative managed by NHTSA and the Research and Innovative Technologies Administration (RITA) Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office. Earlier this year, DOT released data from a series of “driver acceptance clinics” conducted during the first phase of the Safety Pilot. The study revealed that an overwhelming majority of drivers (9 out of 10) who have experienced V2V technology have a highly favourable opinion of its safety benefits and would like to have V2V safety features on their personal vehicle.

“Many significant advances in roadway safety resulted from the collaborations between government, industry, and academia,” said Gregory D. Winfree, RITA Deputy Administrator. “The deployment today is the culmination of years of cooperative research on forward-thinking technology designed to save lives and prevent injuries on America’s roads.”

The information collected from both phases of the Safety Pilot, and other key research projects, will be used by NHTSA to determine by 2013 whether to proceed with additional activities involving connected vehicle technology, including possible rulemaking.

For more information on DOT’s connected vehicle research, click here.

Continental supports series production launch of Car-to-X communication

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:47:54 +0200

sim^TDfield test starts with Communication Control Unit and applications from Continental. Car-to-x system to be further developed to series production readiness.

On 6 August the entire test fleet for one of the world's biggest car-to-x communication field tests took to the roads of Germany. Under the umbrella of the sim^TD (Safe and Intelligent Mobility – Test Field Germany) research project, 17 partners are working on systems integration and information sharing to make road use safer, more efficient and less stressful. Communication technologies are being deployed that multiply the range which a vehicle's sensors are able to monitor many times over, so that risks can be identified and drivers alerted as soon as possible. "In recent years, driving has already become much safer thanks to advanced electronic driver assistance systems based on cameras, radar and infrared sensors that monitor a vehicle's surroundings. Car-to-x communication goes one step further, allowing us to see round corners, as it were, and consequently to drive even more foresightedly. This brings us a significant step closer to making the roads even safer," explained Dr Peter E. Rieth, Senior Vice President Systems & Technology in Continental's Chassis & Safety Division.

As part of sim^TD, the international automotive supplier Continental has developed the Communication Control Unit (CCU) which enables information to be shared over different channels such as UMTS or automotive WLAN. Positioning and time synchronisation data can also be accessed via GPS. Together, the Communication Control Unit and a Vehicle Application Unit, which was developed by project partner Bosch within the sim^TD project, form the ITS vehicle station that is installed in all sim^TD test vehicles. The main challenge during development was to standardise the communication processes outside the vehicle to create a common basis for sharing cross-vehicle information.

For the Vehicle Application Unit, Continental collaborated on the definition, specification, development and trialing of the cooperative ITS applications and supplied the software components for the Road Works Information System, the Congestion Warning, Advanced Route Guidance and the use of Internet-Based Services. These applications enable traffic information to be displayed to the driver, such as warnings about the end of a traffic jam hidden round a bend, the position and length of a section of roadworks and the traffic situation in that section. Navigation routes can also be changed dynamically according to the prevailing traffic situation.

Finally, as part of systems integration – one of six sim^TD subprojects – vehicle, communications and traffic technologies were connected to form a fully-integrated system during months of trials in the lab, and testing and optimisation at a private test track and on the road.

Continental develops car-to-x system to series production readiness
"Using sim^TD, we are able to develop and implement a car-to-x system under real conditions for the first time. The task then is to combine this valuable experience with our systems expertise and to further develop car-to-x communication to series production readiness," said Dr Bernhard Klumpp, Executive Vice President of the Business Unit Passive Safety & Sensorics in Continental's Chassis & Safety Division.

Consequently, Continental is developing the M2XPro sensor and the Intelligent Antenna Module, two components that will create an inexpensive car-to-x system. The M2XPro sensor (Motion information 2 X Provider) can determine precisely which traffic lane a vehicle is located in through the fusion of driving dynamics sensors with GPS data. The sensor uses an intelligent fusion algorithm to provide other control units with a vehicle's motion information together with a precise time base – a key requirement for car-to-x communication. The M2XPro can also calculate the actual car-to-x functions so no additional control unit is needed. When combined with Continental's Intelligent Antenna Module, precise vehicle data can be made available to all the vehicle's own systems and also transmitted to the surrounding infrastructure. In one unit, the Intelligent Antenna Module integrates the antennas for wireless communication between vehicle and infrastructure, the antennas for the vehicle interior and the corresponding transmission and reception electronics. As a result, the module enables the use of applications such as telephone, radio, GPS and WLAN, as well as future vehicle-to-vehicle communication.

"The further development of this car-to-x system means that we will be able to go into full production in a few years' time," continued Dr Klumpp, "which again underlines our systems expertise in the development of innovative safety technologies."

sim^TD project partners are as follows: Adam Opel AG, AUDI AG, BMW AG, BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH, Daimler AG (sim^TD project management), Ford Forschungszentrum Aachen GmbH, Volkswagen AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Continental, Deutsche Telekom AG, Fraunhofer- Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH (DFKI), Technische Universität Berlin, Technische Universität München, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft des Saarlandes, Universität Würzburg, Hessen Mobil – Straßen- und Verkehrsmanagement and the city of Frankfurt am Main.

The project is funded and supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS) as well as the federal state of Hesse, the German Association of the Automotive Industry and the Car 2 Car Communication Consortium.

Further information can be found here.

Truck tolling consultation

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 16:17:33 +0200

Technical Market Consultation: Information Session

The Brussels, Flemish and Walloon Region of Belgium invite potential suppliers and service providers to an information meeting as a first step towards a market consultation on Monday 10 September 2012 (fron 9:00 to 17:00) at the Hadewych auditorium (H. Conscience building), in Koning Albert II laan 15 (Brussels).

On 21 January 2011 the three Regions have decided to introduce a kilometre charge for trucks and a road vignette for light vehicles in the Regions. In preparation of the implementation of both systems, the desired architecture (which includes the technical, financial and legal framework) is being developed. During the first phase of the project a provisional architecture for both charging systems has been defined. By means of- amongst others - a market consultation, this architecture will be further detailed and its feasibility will be verified. The final architecture will serve as basis for the formal tender, which will lead to the introduction of the road pricing systems mentioned above.

In order to gather the latest information on technology in the market and to validate the design decisions that have been made in the present architecture, interested parties are invited to participate in this information meeting, to respond to a questionnaire and to participate in further consultation meetings on specific subjects.

Interested market parties are requested to register as participant for the market consultation by filling out the registration form and submitting this form to info@vlabruwa.be before 31/8/2012. Should the number of registrations exceed the available space in the planned facilities, we will request to reduce the number of participants per market party.

The information material is available via email.

Participants are requested to submit the filled out questionnaire on or before 13 September 2012. Based on the received questionnaires, parties may be asked for further clarifications with respect to one or more elements of their questionnaire. Questionnaires submitted after the mentioned deadline will not be taken into consideration.

Additional questions from parties not included in their submitted questionnaires, will also not be taken into consideration.

The results of the market consultation will be published.

The program of the information meeting will be published prior to the meeting of 10 September.

Because of the expected number of international attendees, the language during the meeting will be English.

Please note that these meetings are intended for companies wanting to provide products or services for the implementation of the road charging systems. Would you like to share your views on issues of these systems other than the provisioning of products or (financial) services you are kindly referred to the stakeholder information or info@vlabruwa.be.

The questionnaire and the meetings will be in English.

Financial Market Consultation

The Brussels, Flemish and Walloon Regions of Belgium invite potential funders to fill out a questionnaire for a market consultation.

On 21 January 2011 the three Regions have decided to introduce a kilometre charge for trucks and a road vignette for light vehicles in the Regions. In preparation of the implementation of both systems, the desired architecture (which includes the technical, financial and legal framework) is being developed. During the first phase of the project a provisional architecture for both charging systems has been defined. By means of - amongst others - a market consultation this architecture will be further detailed and its feasibility will be verified. The final architecture will serve as basis for the formal tender, which will lead to the introduction of the road pricing systems mentioned above.

In order to collect the latest information on the funding of this type of project and to validate the choices made in the provisional architecture, interested parties are invited to fill out a questionnaire which addresses key points on the funding of the project.

Interested parties are requested to apply for the questionnaire by sending an e-mail to info@vlabruwa.be. Based on the responses submitted by the applicants, the Regions could invite parties for specific subjects raised in the answers of the questionnaires. These meetings will take place during the week of 24 September 2012.

The results of the market consultation, including the results of the specific meetings, will be published.

The questionnaire and the meetings will be in English.

Road Safety Day 2012 in Prague

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:51:10 +0200

	On 28 June, over 15 000 people gathered in Wenceslas Square (Prague) on the occasion of the Road safety Day organised by the Czech Ministry of Transport and UAMK (Central Automobile Club of the Czech Republic), national member of FIA (Federation International de l'Automobile). This large public event aimed to increase awareness of safe driving as well as the European emergency call system eCall, whose implementation was given the support of the European Parliament in a vote on 3 July.
Among the attendees, Olga Sehanlova - Member of the European Parliament and Rapporteur of the Internal Market Committee - actively participated in the event. The Deputy Minister of Transport, Mr Jiri Zak, also stressed the importance of this event and shared with ERTICO his view on eCall. In the afternoon, Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher and FIA President Jean Todt took the floor and advocated the adoption of the FIA’s 10 Golden Rules for safer driving.
	During the day, the public had the opportunity to be involved in several safety related activities and demonstrations. The event featured a specialised eSafety truck for major natural disasters, a motorised sled that encourages seat-belt use by simulating the feeling of being involved in a road traffic accident, and a rollover crash simulator. The public also saw how the roadside accident assistance services extricate injured people from crashed vehicles. In the context of the campaign "No drugs, No alcohol", brave volunteers drove a tricycle wearing goggles that simulate a situation where the sight and perception of reality are altered after heavy drinking.

At the stand of the European funded projects iCar Support and HeERO, simulators demonstrated how eCall works and the GSA gave a glimpse of new in-vehicle technologies.

View the videos from the event below.

Video of the Road Safety Day

Video interview with Olga Sehnalova MEP, Rapporteur of the IMCO Committee

Video interview with Jiri Zak, Deputy Ministry of Transport - Czech Republic

Video interview with Emilio Davila, DG CONNECT - European Commission

Video interview with Ludek Prudil, Fire Rescue Services - Czech Republic

ITS UK salutes the ITS professionals involved in the 2012 Olympic Games

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:36:23 +0200

ITS United Kingdom, the Intelligent Transport Systems association for the UK, congratulates all the ITS professionals who contributed to Olympic-related travel being so relatively trouble free during the fortnight of the Games.

ITS UK particularly recognise the very effective work done by Foundation Members Transport for London and Corporate Members Dorset County Council, which ensured that travelling around London and Weymouth and Portland during the sporting events was, in the end, much easier than many had anticipated.

Transport Direct, part of Foundation Members Department for Transport, also deserves recognition for the special Olympic travel planning portal which they created with particular regard to the specific needs of the many one-off visitors to the Games destinations. The portal helped to guide travellers to the most sustainable and least crowded routes.

Many ITS (UK) Members, large and small, worked as suppliers or consultants to many parts of the Olympic travel network. There are no medals for Olympic transport delivery but if there were, surely the UK’s ITS sector would be on the podium.

For more information, contact Jennie Martin.

First order for delivery of on-board units from Brazil

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:44:10 +0200

Kapsch TrafficCom AG, listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange in the prime market segment, informs that its Swedish subsidiary Kapsch TrafficCom AB has received a first order for the delivery of on-board units (OBUs) from Brazil.

According to André Laux, CEO of Kapsch TrafficCom AB, “this is a very pleasant event as it is our first OBU order in one of the world’s most rapidly growing intelligent transportation systems (ITS) markets. It is a result of years of endeavor and underlines our long term commitment to be part of the converging Brazilian ITS market with the upcoming SINIAV project nearest in mind.”

For more information, contact Marcus Handl.

Kapsch TrafficCom presents growth and future strategy in fiscal year 2011/12

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 10:15:28 +0200

Kapsch TrafficCom AG, listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange, can look back at five successful years since its initial public offering in June 2007. In the past fiscal year 2011/12, which ended on 31 March 2012, revenues increased again by 42% compared to the previous year. This growth reflects, in particular, the progress of the two major projects in Poland and South Africa but also the successful expansion of business in the U.S.A. The volume of delivered on-board units significantly rose from 5.2 million units in the previous year to 11.2 million units. However, the fiscal year proved challenging as well.

After an implementation period of only eight months, Kapsch TrafficCom started the operation of its major project in Poland at the beginning of the fiscal year, the nationwide electronic toll collection system viaTOLL for all vehicles above 3.5 tons, and completed it in stages up to the end of December. The system acceptance finally took place on 21 February 2012. Kapsch TrafficCom covered the ongoing expenses until this time, despite significantly reduced revenues from the operation of the system due to the delayed system acceptance. In the first quarter of 2012/13, for the first time, Kapsch TrafficCom will be able to generate revenues from operating the system according to the original contract. The net payment of EUR 103.3 million for the last milestone of the system implementation received in April 2012 will also be reflected strongly in the free cash flow.

In South Africa, the start of the electronic toll collection system for multi-lane free-flow traffic in the province of Gauteng has been delayed. At the end of April 2012 – just two days before the scheduled commissioning deadline – the start of the fully completed system in South Africa was suspended indefinitely by a court order due to a lawsuit. On 23 May 2012, the government elected to appeal the court decision.

Although progress in both major projects impacted positively on revenues of the Kapsch TrafficCom Group, the delays clearly weighed down on earnings in the second half of the reporting period.
In fiscal year 2011/12, Kapsch TrafficCom won new projects and markets, which shall support the continuing growth of the group: in July 2011, the investment into expanding the U.S. business was justified with a ten-year contract from the E-ZPass Group, operator of the world’s largest interoperable toll collection system. In Russia, the joint venture, in which Kapsch TrafficCom holds a 33% stake, won a contract to maintain and operate an intelligent transportation system (ITS), which encompasses a toll collection system as well as traffic information and management systems. The implementation and operation projects won in Belarus and Portugal also contribute to a positive outlook, as does the agreement with the French toll service provider Axxes in the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology as well as the basic understanding reached with Asfinag Maut Service GmbH on extending the operation and maintenance contract for the nationwide electronic truck toll collection system in Austria until the end of 2018.

Strategy 2016
Kapsch TrafficCom is striving to achieve further growth in the future. In the reporting period, the strategy for the next five years was defined and substantiated by strategic paths. Accordingly, Kapsch TrafficCom plans to grow further in its core business of electronic toll collection and to expand both regionally and by moving into new business fields. Expanding the business into select ITS applications beyond toll collection is viewed as preparation for the increasing convergence of the ITS market that Kapsch TrafficCom expects in the next five to ten years in view of the future topic of “connected vehicles in cooperative systems”. Parallel to this, Kapsch TrafficCom will adapt the company structure in line with strategic requirements to ensure maximum efficiency and global synergies.

Revenues and earnings
In fiscal year 2011/12, the Kapsch TrafficCom Group recorded the highest revenue since its foundation, continuing its growth from recent years. Revenues of EUR 388.6 million in the previous fiscal year 2010/11 were improved by 41.5% to reach EUR 549.9 million in fiscal year 2011/12. The operating result (EBIT) declined by 13.6% to EUR 42.2 million in fiscal year 2011/12, compared to EUR 48.9 million in the previous year. The EBIT margin was 7.7% in the reporting period, thereby missing the target of a two-digit EBIT margin. System implementation delays in Poland and South Africa made for disappointing developments with a negative EBIT of EUR -2.7 million in the third quarter, followed by weak but positive developments in the fourth quarter.

Revenues in the segment Road Solution Projects (RSP) reached EUR 229.9 million in the 2011/12 fiscal year, up by 44.7% compared with the previous year (EUR 158.9 million). The most important factor in this improvement was the contribution made by the project in Poland.

In the segment Services, System Extensions, Components Sales (SEC), revenues increased by 37.9% from EUR 223.3 million in the previous year to EUR 308.1 million. The 22.8% decrease in EBIT from EUR 48.3 million in the previous year to EUR 37.3 million in 2011/12 largely reflects the delays in the two major projects in Poland and South Africa. However, the EBIT margin in the segment SEC was still 12.1%, though well below the 21.6% figure from the previous year.

Profit before income taxes reached EUR 36.3 million, down by EUR 4.9 million compared with the previous year. Lower income taxes and higher financial income compensated for the lower operating result (EBIT) and led to an almost unchanged profit for the period of EUR 27.5 million (2010/11: EUR 28.4 million) and to earnings per share of EUR 1.62 (2010/11: EUR 1.81).

The executive board will make a proposal to the shareholders’ meeting on 24 August 2012 calling for the approval of a dividend of EUR 0.90 per share (2010/11: EUR 1.00 per share) for the fiscal year 2011/12. This proposal reflects a payout ratio of approximately 57% in relation to the profit for the period attributable to equity holders of the company (2010/11: approximately 55%).

Financial position and cashflows
Total assets increased in the reporting period, largely as a consequence of the augmented project business, the capital increase at the end of July 2011 and the total comprehensive income for the period. The equity ratio of the Kapsch TrafficCom Group thus increased to 45.9% as of 31 March 2012 (31 March 2011: 42.5%). The high project-related net working capital was instrumental in the free cash flow declining to EUR -50.9 million after EUR -19.9 million in the previous year. However, the payment received from the project in Poland in April 2012 – after the reporting date – will significantly reduce net working capital and improve the free cash flow in the first quarter of 2012/13.

Outlook and targets
Despite a macroeconomic environment that remains challenging, Kapsch TrafficCom takes an optimistic view of its markets for fiscal year 2012/13 and beyond. The company is convinced that there are many interesting opportunities worldwide for the delivery and operation of toll collection systems and that it is well prepared for the increasing convergence of the ITS market. Fiscal year 2012/13 will be characterized in particular by further developments associated with the date for the start of the electronic toll system for multi-lane free-flow traffic in the South African province of Gauteng as well as the expected tenders for nationwide electronic toll collection systems in Hungary, Slovenia and Denmark. The company will also focus during fiscal year 2012/13 on implementing the strategy up to 2016, as defined in fiscal year 2011/12, and on establishing the corresponding corporate structure.

The Annual Report and the Annual Financial Statements on fiscal year 2011/12 can be downloaded from Kapsch website.

Kapsch TrafficCom strengthens presence in Mexico

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 09:55:34 +0200

Kapsch TrafficCom AG, listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange in the prime market segment, reveals that its subsidiary Kapsch TrafficCom Canada Inc. ("KTCC") has made an investment in SIMEX, Integracion de Sistemas, S.A. de C.V., Mexico, relating to the issuing by SIMEX of new shares of capital stock representing 33% of SIMEX's post-closing issued and outstanding capital stock.

According to Chris Murray, President of KTCC, “We are pleased to enter into this partnership with Simex. This investment reinforces our commitment to our customers in Mexico. Together with Simex's proven system integration expertise and local market position we look forward to delivering our superior intelligent transportation solutions to the Mexican market.”

“Through this investment, we look forward to building an even closer relationship with Kapsch TrafficCom. Kapsch TrafficCom and SIMEX offer our customers extensive expertise, not only on the Mexican marketplace, but also around the delivery of high performance ETC and ITS solutions and services to meet the critical demands of our customers,” says Saturnino Suarez Reynoso, President of SIMEX.

For additional information, visit the website.

Contract award in Texas for supply of first total system in North America

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 09:44:41 +0200

Contract value for implementation reaches USD 79 million (about EUR 64 million)

Kapsch TrafficCom AG (ISIN AT000KAPSCH9), listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange in the prime market segment, reveals that its subsidiary Kapsch TrafficCom IVHS has been selected to design, build, and integrate the Managed Lane System (MLS) for both the North Tarrant Express (NTE) and LBJ Express projects in Dallas and Tarrant Counties in North Texas. The project scope for Kapsch encompasses delivery of a Toll Collection System (TCS), Intelligent Transport System (ITS), and Network Communication System (NCS), creating a fully integrated MLS. The agreement signed today extends to more than thirty miles of “managed lanes” – specifically used, administrated and tolled lanes to arrange the traffic according to different requirements and demands - with 65 toll lanes and 33 toll zones. The total contract value for the implementation of the system reaches approximately USD 79 million (about EUR 64 million). The first phase of the system will start operation in August 2013.

Kapsch TrafficCom IVHS, has assembled a team of highly-qualified, experienced civil, ITS and network infrastructure providers which includes a number of local Texas-based companies and organisations. This team complements the electronic tolling capabilities as well as, for the first time in North America, the overall system and project management as it has been successfully provided by Kapsch for many years as part of its end-to-end solutions around the globe. The project will be managed from the local project management office of Kapsch in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

According to Chris Murray, President of Kapsch TrafficCom IVHS, “We’re delighted to have been selected as a supplier of a total system for the first time in the USA. This project will be one of North America’s newest and premier transportation systems. Hence, Kapsch has established its position in the supply of systems and has achieved another milestone towards becoming an end-to-end solutions provider in the North American market.”

“Winning the NTE and LBJ projects represent a major accomplishment for Kapsch in North America and confirms the adopted strategic path to deliver superior end-to-end solutions in the highly competitive North American market,” says Georg Kapsch, Chief Executive Officer of Kapsch TrafficCom Group.

For more information contact Marcus Handl.

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems: on the road to deployment

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 10:09:23 +0200

European drivers will soon benefit from safety, environmental and efficiency improve-ments to their journeys thanks to the collaborative project being demonstrated at this year’s ITS World Congress in Vienna from 22 to 26 October 2012.

Research into how vehicles can communicate with each other and the road infrastructure around them is advanced. Currently, vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, road infrastructure providers and standards authorities in Europe are working together to bring about the market introduction of these advanced technology systems.

Vienna Driving Demonstration

Congress attendees in Vienna will have the opportunity to see for themselves how cooperative Intel-ligent Transport Systems can assist drivers in real-time and in real-world traffic. A series of example scenarios will be demonstrated in a collaborative project by the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consor-tium, representing 58 partners from vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and research organisations, together with the Testfeld Telematik Consortium, representing 14 partners from industry, the public sector and road operators. Using sections of the TT Consortium’s 45km test-field route around the motorway junctions A2/A23-A4-S1 in Vienna, participants in the demo will experience the interaction between telematic services delivered from road side units to and between intelligent vehicles via an exclusively allocated ITS frequency band for Europe (5.875 GHz – 5.905 GHz). Participants can also experience how intelligent cars, as well as motorcycles and utility vehicles can alert one another to potentially dangerous situations, such as when road users are obscured or in a blind spot.

How does it work?

Intelligent vehicles transmit data, for example about their position, direction and speed, as well as simultaneously receiving the same data set from other vehicles or information from road infrastruc-ture, such as the upcoming signal phase and timing of traffic lights. The exchange of data between the vehicles and infrastructure is imperceptible by drivers until a potentially dangerous situation is detected, at which moment the drivers concerned will receive an alert.

Driver Benefits

Safety: Among the many valuable applications of this technology are some clear safety bene-fits for road users. The development of passive safety equipment such as seatbelts, airbags and crumple zones have all reduced the severity of road traffic accidents but sadly, not the frequency. Accident prevention can be enhanced by ensuring drivers are made aware of any potential collision.

The safety benefits of cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems include:

informing drivers when they are on a collision course with a nearby vehicle
informing drivers of the current speed limit
alerting drivers of an approaching and potentially unseen motorcycles or other vehicles when for example changing lanes or approaching a blind intersection
alerting drivers to probable red light violations by calculating information - based on driver speed and traffic light phase timing
informing drivers of local road conditions, such as side winds and possible aqua-planing
informing drivers when there is an obstruction on the road ahead such as road works or the end of a traffic jam, allowing the driver to reduce their speed in time

Efficiency and environmental performance: Further applications include real-time, accurate information about traffic jams, route recommendations, and information about approaching emergency vehicles to ensure their efficient passage through urban areas and green light optimum speed advisory which can provide a signal phase and timing alert, facilitating steady traffic flow and avoiding abrupt speed changes which cause high emissions.

Collaboration & Cooperation for an Interoperability Success Story

Over the last decade, the operability and potential benefits of Cooperative Systems have been inves-tigated and thoroughly tested in several national and European research projects. The technical sys-tems allowing vehicles to communicate with infrastructure, known as Car2X Technology, will be ready for use in the second half of the decade on European roads. Through the hard work and investment in projects such as the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium and the Testfeld Telematik Consortium, we are moving closer towards the international harmonisation of ITS standards to ensure interoperability across brands and across borders. The success of cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems lies in the deep cooperation between public authorities, standards agencies, road and infrastructure operators and the component and vehicle industries. We hope to see you in Vienna, and you will see we are already there!

For more information, contact Dr Karl-Oskar Proskawetz (CAR2CAR Communication Consortium) or Christoph Pollinger (ASFINAG).

ERTICO welcomes new staff!

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 09:40:35 +0200

Davide Brizzolara

Davide joined ERTICO as a Project Support Manager on 6 August 2012. He gained his Master's Degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Genoa, and a PhD in Sciences and Technologies for Information and Communications (STIC) in 2010.

Before joining ERTICO, he worked as Research Assistant in the Department of Biophysical and Electronic Engineering of the same University in cooperation with Ansaldo STS (Finmeccanica Group) in the field of European Projects and, starting from 2011, as Research Engineer at EURECOM in Sophia Antipolis. The main subjects of his research were: wireless communication protocols; development and implementation of algorithms on resource constrained devices; development and implementation of algorithms for signal elaborations and communication management.

Silvia Meo

Silvia has a degree in Political Science obtained from the University of Padova.

In 2007 she began working at the European Commission. In the beginning she worked for two project officers as personal assistant. From 2009 until the beginning of June 2012 she worked as Legal and Financial Assistant. She has a vast experience in the administration of 7th Framework Programme and Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme.

Silvia joined ERTICO to work in the Financial and Administrative Department, where she is involved with EC projects and administrative tasks.

Call for Nominations - ITS Australia National Awards

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 15:11:40 +0200

ITS Australia is proud to announce the third ITS Australia National Awards to its members and ITS industry

The ITS Australia Awards will recognise and celebrate the achievements of the industry in 2011/2012. The 2012 awards process will be conducted between August and October concluding with the Awards presentation and ITS Annual dinner at Toyota Australia's Corporate Headquarters in Melbourne on 28 November.

These awards are for member organisations that have achieved with exceptional products or services that have furthered the development or deployment of a transport solution or innovation using Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in the previous year. The awards are open to any person or organisation with a current financial membership of ITS Australia and an Australian business office in the field of ITS with significant Australian content. Companies which are not current ITS Australia members but are interested in nominating, should join.

AWARDS ON OFFER

1.    National ITS Excellence Award. Click here for the full criteria of the National Award.

2.    Young Professional Award. Click here for the full criteria of the Young Professional Award.

3.    Max Lay LifeTime Achievement Award. ITS Australia calls upon its members to nominate individuals for this award for consideration by the committee. Contact ITS Australia for further details.

PRIZES

Each winner will be presented with an engraved glass ornament /trophy. In addition to the trophy the Young Professional will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the ITS World Congress in Tokyo 2013.

NOMINATIONS & JUDGING PANEL
Nominations are now welcome. Nomination Forms are available by contacting ITS Australia.
The closing date for nominations is 25 September 2012.

The nominations will be judged by an eminent panel of ITS professionals:
•    Brian Negus - Chaired by ITS Australia President - RACV
•    Mike Regan - University of NSW
•    Neal Daniel - Toyota
•    Max Lay
•    Rocco Zitto - University of SA
•    Lauchlan McIntosh - ANCAP

The winning entry will be announced at the ITS Australia Annual Dinner and Awards Presentation in Melbourne on 28 November 2012. Short listed nominations will also be on display on the awards night.

CLICK HERE FOR THE AWARDS PAGE ON THE WEBSITE

CityLog tests the new delivery Bentobox concept in Lyon

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:01:40 +0200

The partners of the European project CityLog have teamed up to test a new delivery concept in Lyon: Bentobox. Bentobox is a flexible delivery solution for retailers located in downtown shopping centres that allows the delivery of parcels outside the regular working hours (for example during the night or early in the morning).

Bentobox is a simple solution: trolleys – or mobile containers – are loaded with merchandise for shopping malls in the depot by TNT. Then the trolleys are delivered to an automated parcel station within the shopping mall, before or after opening hours. The driver inserts the trolleys into the dock station, triggering an automated alert that notifies the customer of delivery by SMS or email.

Customers can then pick up their merchandise 24/7 at their convenience. The advantages? Fewer heavy weight vehicles in downtown areas during rush hour, less pollution and noise in city centres, and more flexibility for customers – all of which contribute to better logistics for shopping centres and delivery zones.

Bentobox was tested for 6 weeks at the Part Dieu shopping centre, in central Lyon. TNT Express, CityLog partner, teamed up with major customer Vivarté Group to test Bentobox for Vivarté’s Kookaï store in a Lyon shopping centre.

Sources: Moving the world and CityLog

Latest CityLog and CityMove Newsletter

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:50:12 +0200

The latest CityLog and CityMove Newsletter is now available!

Family charge ahead with epic EV adventure

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:29:10 +0200

A family of electric vehicle (EV) advocates are proving that long-distance journeys are possible in an EV - as they undertake a trip from Paris to Northern Ireland via the North East’s Charge your Car network in a Nissan LEAF.

Mark Nitters, along with wife Rhona, eight year-old son Alexander and six year-old daughter Louise, are currently undertaking the 1500 mile round trip from Paris to Northern Ireland, visiting family and friends in the Netherlands and Glasgow en-route. The Nitters family, who live in the Grasse region of France, made the decision to go “all electric” in 2008 after experiencing the “zen sensation” of driving a Toyota Prius, an electric hybrid vehicle. Their first full electric vehicle was a Citroen Saxo Electrique and the family now use a Nissan LEAF company car. The family makes the same trip every year, so now they have a family-sized electric car, they decided there was no reason not to complete the journey in it.

The epic adventure was planned around the growing network of EV charging points on both sides of the Channel and the family became members of Charge your Car, the North East’s Plugged in Places scheme, in the process.

During their journey the Nitters family will charge their vehicle around 21 times in total including two stops in the North East. Their long-distance electric adventure is being recorded in their blog, Grasse Glasgow Electric 2012.

The family arrived in the region from Amsterdam via Ferry and charged at Bournemouth Gardens, Whitley Bay while they explored the North Tyneside coast. They then made their way up to Berwick where made a lunch stop and used the quick charging station located at Haggerston Castle before continuing up to the Scotland. The ability to quick charge their LEAF meant they were able to make the journey from Newcastle to Glasgow in a day.

Charge your Car has been responsible for the installation of almost 400 EV charging points throughout the region to date. It also boasts ten quick charging stations, the only comprehensive network of quick chargers anywhere in the UK. The accessibility of the network was vital to the family in planning their adventure. The Charge your Car scheme caters for regular and ad-hoc EV users via its membership scheme and innovative PAYG facility.

Commenting on the North East leg of the journey, Mark said: “The publicly accessible charging points provided by Charge your Car, and user friendly website for members, has been great, giving us peace of mind during our journey up to Scotland. Having access to quick chargers enabled us to complete the journey between Newcastle and Glasgow in just a day which was fantastic.”

Josey Wardle, project manager for the Charge your Car, said: “The Nitters family are fantastic ambassadors for electric vehicles and for the growing network of charging points here in the North East, as well as other parts of the UK and Europe.

“We hope their experience, recorded in their fantastic blog, helps to overcome the myth that EVs are for only suitable for shorter journeys. With a growing number of EV charging points now in place in the North East, I’m delighted that Charge your Car was able to play a part in their epic journey and that their experience of the charging point network here was a positive one.”

The North East Charge your Car project was launched in early 2010 after North East England was named as one of the first three areas to put in place a comprehensive electric vehicle infrastructure and was given funding to support the installation of charging posts in car parks, on streets, at residential and commercial locations.

Grants are available for any organisation wishing to have a charging point installed on their premises. For further information on the funding available visit the website.

New XEROX white paper published

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 08:55:38 +0200

Transport analytics. Driving efficiency, reducing congestion, getting people where they need to go faster

Download the white paper here

Transport - the effective movement of people and things - has long been critical to economies and qualities of life worldwide. Inefficiencies cost money, increase pollution-causing emissions and take time away from people’s lives. The problem is the supply of transport infrastructure grows more slowly than demand. Cars can be built more quickly than roads. Cities grow faster than highways can be expanded. Even if there were a limitless supply of money and personnel for road construction, many areas are already built out. That is why the transport industry is turning to business analytics to find smarter ways to use the resources that exist, reduce congestion, and improve the travel experience. Just think of how monumental the impact would be if every person could get where he or she needed to go, or find a parking spot, five minutes faster each day.

Main author Geraldine Lievre, Chief Technology Officer, International Transport and Government, Xerox.

Instant Mobility presents its progress to Turkish stakeholders

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:59:33 +0200

About 60 participants took part in the Instant Mobility stakeholder workshop organised in Istanbul, Turkey, on 26 June 2012, by the local consortium partner ISBAK, one of the affiliated companies of the Istanbul Metropolis Municipality.

Transport problems are among the most important of Istanbul Municipality today. ISBAK has developed solutions for more intelligent transport in the city, such as transport management systems, information and monitoring systems for e.g. automatic accident perception.

Mobility, especially in cities, could be significantly improved if travellers, goods and vehicles were interconnected in real time through the Internet. Instant Mobility is one of the 8 sector projects within the European Commission Future Internet Public-Private Partnership (FI-PPP ) Programme, which aim is to accelerate technological development for the future internet and its adoption in “smart infrastructures” - such as smart energy grids, smart cities, smart environmental management systems and smart systems for mobility.

Instant Mobility is defining the technical and non-technical requirements for a virtual “Transport and Mobility Internet” platform and services (constituted in scenarios corresponding to the needs of key mobility actors).
After a general presentation of the project and its three scenarios on multimodal journey planning, last mile delivery and traffic management in the cloud, participants got an insight of what Future Internet is about and of the Future Internet Public-Private Partnership (FI-PPP) programme and the potential opportunities it represents for local stakeholders. Indeed, Istanbul could be a pilot city in Phase 2 of the programme (call for proposals closing in October 2012), leading to effective trials and demonstrations in Phase 3 (call opening next year), and this is an opportunity for SMEs to push new innovative services with large funding available.

Instant Mobility “enablers” were also presented, i.e. the facilities to be used to enable future internet technologies and services, many of which already exist today but not at the right level. Today what needs collecting is the right data, information about the traffic and position of the traveller, which will be used by traffic operators to measure traffic density or identify bottlenecks. Indeed this will give so many possibilities in the various transport modes that it will improve mobility as a whole. The data provided, however, will be completely anonymised and thus unlinkable to any person in particular.

Regarding deliveries in the city, knowing a truck’s exact position, itinerary and load will allow new orders or pick ups “on the fly”, and real time information on deviations (e.g. delays) will allow immediate rescheduling. Another possible service is the personalised delivery-place and -time based on sharing one’s personal calendar with transporters to determine the ideal time and place for delivering a package – all taking into account their delivery plan and your whereabouts.

Since fleet operators have already reached the maximum fuel efficiency achievable nowadays, only these solutions can allow further reduction and thus there is a positive business case to use these technologies. Another positive business model is that the Instant Mobility platform will allow new services from external companies to be plugged into.

The next stakeholder workshop of Instant Mobility will be held in Toledo, Spain, on 2 October 2012, before a larger-scale pre-ITS World Congress workshop on 21 October 2012 in Vienna, Austria, targeted at a more international audience. An Instant Mobility prototype platform will be also be demonstrated at the ITS World Congress.

To register your interest for any of these events, please contact Julie Castermans.

TTS Italia at the 19th ITS World Congress

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:36:25 +0200

TTS Italia, the Italian ITS Association, will be attending the 19th ITS World Congress in Vienna from 22 to 26 October 2012. TTS Italia will be present at the booth number E60 with the following members: Autostrade Tech, Famas System, Magneti Marelli, Pluservice, Telespazio and 5t. In accordance with the Congress motto “Smarter on the way”, TTS Italia members will be presenting their last innovative ITS solutions and products for transport and road safety.

At TTS Italia stand will also be present Fondazione Formit with I-Tour project in which TTS Italia is participating as stakeholder and final user, and Piemonte Agency for Investments, Export and Tourism which will be involving several Italian companies from the Piemonte Region area.

TTS Italia welcomes you all at stand E60!

NXP - Enabling next-generation urban mobility

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:28:38 +0200

NXP pilots next-generation congestion management system in Singapore. Singapore ideal test bed for intelligent traffic solutions. NXP demonstrates applications for safety and connectivity at World Cities Summit 2012

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Nasdaq: NXPI) has begun testing a next-generation congestion management system in Singapore. Cars equipped with NXP’s 3.5G telematics solution ATOP (automotive telematics on-board unit platform) are currently piloting modern mobility solutions in Singapore.

Singapore’s world-class infrastructure is the ideal test bed for intelligent traffic solutions as it faces the mobility challenges of today’s global megacities and aims to reduce pollution and congestion. During the Singapore trial, cars equipped with ATOP, a module allowing for cost-efficient and flexible integration into automotive electronics, will wirelessly collect real-time traffic data via 3.5G mobile broadband. This allows the testing of congestion management as well as secure payment, road-side assistance and paperless parking.

The results of the Singapore trial so far proves that NXP technologies can help alleviate congestion and help manage peak-hour traffic, ultimately helping drivers to save costs and contribute to a greener environment.

The ATOP module is the core of an On Board Unit (OBU). The OBU contains a GPS receiver that collects, with optimal privacy, real time data, such as the vehicle’s exact location, and wirelessly feeds it to a back office. This allows service centres to calculate the fastest and most cost-effective route or advise drivers to choose the best means of transport.

The NXP technology can also wirelessly communicate with other cars and traffic signs to warn drivers of dangers ahead and advise on optimum speed.

3.5G communication has the bandwidth to accommodate congestion management schemes as well as other services to improve the traffic flow and road safety. In a second step, these can be complemented with car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication functionality. Such comprehensive mobility concepts will allow people in global megacities like Singapore to optimally use and combine all means of transport – including public transport, taxi, individual transport means and car sharing. A secure element is another key feature within this communication system. Financial-grade smart card technology allows for convenient and secure payment, regardless if public or individual transport.

With NXP’s compact, automotive-grade hardware, governments don’t need to make heavy investments in communication infrastructure such as bulky toll gates or gantries. It forms the basis of a comprehensive intelligent mobility system that will help megacities manage congestion, improve urban environmental conditions, and increase economic competitiveness.

Advanced telematics functions for intelligent transport systems, electro mobility applications and use cases, as well as active safety and car-to-car communication, that can make traffic in megacities safer, smoother and cleaner were demonstrated at the World Cities Summit 2012 in Singapore, 1-4 July:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oCCyJ-wb4M&list=FLR93HViLk1236preKnaeZfw&index=1&feature=plcp)

Smart Sensors, manufactured in standard CMOS technology enable cost-effective integration of multiple sensors into one sensor system. The CMOS technology allows additional functionality, such as wireless networking and authentication, to be efficiently built into the smart sensor node
Electro Mobility and Smart Grid Management. It is envisioned that electric driving will make a breakthrough in the market in 2018. New intelligent loading concepts that address the desires of drivers and the worries of the energy supply management.
- G-PAL (Grid PAL) allows electric loading and payment at any place
- With new technology, EV cars can be wirelessly loaded while parking
- Metering technology, combined with smart security and privacy solutions, generate the relevant data for innovative grid energy balancing algorithms
Active safety and car to car communication - Collision avoidance, active guidance for traffic lights and at road crossings, exact location of parking spots, instant help from public service authorities - all of these become a reality when car-to car or car-to infrastructure communication technologies are deployed. NXP showed a highly reliable, automotive-ready platform that allows cars to detect other vehicles from a distance of one kilometre. It allows drivers to see through obstacles, such as trucks, or receive warnings of dangers ahead. Other demos include automatic emergency call (eCall). eCall allows immediate and accurate accident reporting and active safety technology that would quickly guide ambulances to the accident scene while also warning approaching traffic about the road block
Smart in-car technology - Telematics services address tracking and tracing trucks, and applications such as breakdown call and variable insurance for private cars

Smart mobility, depending on time, place and type of car, enhanced by road pricing techniques, influences the driving behaviour and improves traffic flow. On top of this, smart in-car technology generates all the necessary data to allow third party services to make accurate congestion predictions, early warnings for weather conditions and dangerous road situations

The presentation showed how the car can work as an intelligent internet-connected source of relevant in-car data, and how third party services can process this data to value-adding applications. Click here to see more

Successes in the past

The ATOP technology NXP showed in Singapore was developed and tested in the Netherlands and Belgium. In a six-month road pricing trial in 2009 advanced congestion charge technology was successfully used to incentivise drivers to change their driving behaviour. This reduced traffic congestion and contributed to a greener environment. In fact, 70 percent of drivers changed their behaviour to avoid rush-hour travel when presented with the right incentives, demonstrating that road pricing systems can have a positive effect on driving habits and help alleviate traffic.

Spotlight on NXP ATOP eCall solution as Europe moves closer to implementing eCall emergency call system for road accidents

The European Union has decided to introduce the eCall emergency call system by 2015. Starting in 2015, all new cars in the 27 European Union member states, as well as Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, are to be equipped with the European-wide automatic eCall system. By enabling faster emergency response times to road accidents, the eCall system is expected to save up to 2,500 lives each year in Europe.

The international HeERO project (Harmonised eCall European Pilot) will coordinate the implementation of eCall. In 2011 NXP proofed with a pan-European eCall trial with BMW, IBM, Deutsche Telekom, Allianz OrtungsServices, DEKRA, and four European automobile clubs, that the eCall technology – based on ATOP - is ready for implementation. ATOP is in the spotlight as a compact, affordable and manufacturer-independent solution that is ready to make emergency calls throughout Europe.

More information on NXP’s mobility solutions here

Smarter on the way: Intelligent mobility of the future to be demonstrated in Vienna

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 09:37:18 +0200

When cars can “talk” to traffic lights: The 19th ITS World Congress will present intelligent mobility solutions for visitors to experience for themselves

You’re driving along when suddenly a motorcycle crosses the road just ahead of you. Your brakes squeal and you feel yourself being pressed forward against your seat belt. A scream – but everything is okay this time. The car stopped in time for the motorcyclist. And you didn’t have to do a thing. The car activates the brakes all by itself.

“That is one of the exciting innovations that participants in the 19th ITS World Congress will be able to see for themselves in Vienna,” comments Alexander Frötscher, ITS Congress Demonstration co-ordinator.

Over 20 hands-on demonstrations of intelligent mobility solutions will be shown from 22 to 26 October. They come in five categories, covering cooperative mobility, e-mobility, public transport, navigation and ITS network management. Here are some examples:

Cooperative mobility: When cars and traffic signals communicate
During your 30-minute drive through the city, your car will tell you how long the next traffic signal will stay green. A display will show you how to get to the nearest park and ride facility, tell you how many parking spaces are still available and let you know when the next metro will leave for the city centre. On the express highway, you will receive the information on the overhead signs directly in your car. When driving towards an accident black spot, you will receive a warning ahead of time. And on your way back, your navigation device will guide you safely through a construction site where a wide construction vehicle happens to be manoeuvring at that moment.

There are roughly 40 companies working together on this demonstration, including nearly all of the large car manufacturers and most of the leading providers of infrastructure such as signalling systems, variable message signs and software components for traffic control centres.

E-mobility: Get more kilometres out of your electric car
The biggest problem with electric vehicles is their limited battery capacities. Your future navigation device will therefore show you not only the shortest route, but also the most energy-saving one. And if you’ve reached your destination with an almost empty battery, your navigation device will direct you to the nearest charging station, which will already be reserved and booked during your journey.

Public transport: “ways4all” – no one left behind
During the “ways4all” presentation, blind and visually impaired people will be led through the city and provided with support in the use of public transport. On the street, the GPS and compass on their mobile phone will help people to get their bearings. Spoken navigation instructions will direct them to the nearest metro station, where an indoor navigation system will provide directions about which way to go, tell them which way to turn or if they need to change direction, warn them about stairs and guide them to the nearest lift. And all of the information will be provided in real time. In the demonstration of “ways4all” at the ITS World Congress, a guide with impaired vision will lead you through the city.

Navigation: Tracking dangerous goods
Navigation systems can be used to track and monitor dangerous goods as they are transported in lorries throughout Europe. There are already around 500 lorries equipped with these navigation and sensor systems. At the ITS World Congress, you can track one of these dangerous goods transports on its way through Europe.

ITS Network Management: No parking space is too narrow
You find the very last spot in the car park, but once you’ve parked your car there, you realise that you can’t open your doors. So although you managed to park your car, you’re trapped inside. At the presentation of ITS Network Management, you’ll see how your car can park itself. And if there’s still not enough space for you to get back in when you want to leave, your car will pull out of the parking spot all by itself. This demonstration will take place in the parking garage of the congress facilities.

There will be explanations and instructions about the demonstrations in the launch area in Hall A of the congress building. Participants will leave together from there to get to the nearest parking garage, the nearest metro station or the nearest demo car that will take you through city traffic. In other words, the ITS World Congress will show you in close detail how mobility will feel in the future.

For information and reservations, visit www.itsworldcongress.com. Registration is already open and a detailed programme is available.

The ITS World Congress is held every three years in alternating locations in the Americas, Asia and Europe, and will be hosted by Vienna for the first time this year. Roughly 300 exhibitors and some 10,000 participants are expected. The congress in Vienna from 22 to 26 October 2012 is being organised by ERTICO – ITS Europe in cooperation with ITS America and ITS Asia-Pacific along with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT).

The ERTICO – ITS Europe Partnership

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:19:46 +0200

A new Chairman, a new Supervisory Board and new thoughts for the future

By Henry Wasung and Rasmus Lindholm

Much has happened in the 21 years that ERTICO has existed. Countries have appeared and disappeared, history ended, a new cycle of terrorism begun, a single European currency launched, China became the world’s second largest economy, mobile phones became ubiquitous, England were expelled from many football tournaments on penalties, flares came back – and went out again, televisions became flatter while the population seems to be going in the other direction…

…and we have become connected…

ERTICO was set up to drive forward Intelligent Transport Systems, a new industry made possible by ever faster and cheaper computing – and made desirable by ever increasing transport challenges. With about 1 car for every other person in the EU (1), and taking into account the concentration of population in cities, ITS offers a new path to tackle the ensuing congestion, safety, logistical and environmental consequences. As an example, according to Belgian’s Le Soir, in Brussels by 2015 the average journey time will have increased by 45% (compared to the 2001 figure) and the average speed of a car will be no more than… 15km/hour!

ITS is not only a way to combat these transport challenges, but also is economically attractive. Investing in ITS produces a clear return, and provides skilled work for Europe’s workforce.

However ITS is not straightforward. A public authority can, for instance, build a metro line, roll-out a bike sharing scheme, expand a motorway in a comparatively straightforward manner. To take the latter example, roads have been built for millennia, and while they have improved, being able to bear ever greater weights etc., the improvements are incremental and the number of actors limited. ITS is not only a whole new ball game, but also involves many different stakeholders from widely divergent sectors, many of whom have no traditional transport experience and limited experience in working across sectors.

And it is here that ERTICO comes into its own. ERTICO is a public-private platform for cooperation between ITS stakeholders, working to ensure that Europe achieves its political goals concerning safer, smarter and greener transport - as underlined in the recent Transport White Paper from the European Commission. The ERTICO Partnership has evolved greatly in the past two decades, with new Partners from new sectors, but has always had at its core the public-private principle. It is this successful marriage of the public sector and the private sector(s) that has proved to be the key to ERTICO’s – and its Partners’ – success. The goal? Deploying ITS not for its own sake but to achieve societal and political goals, strengthen the competitiveness of industry and optimise services for the user. How? Through creating win-win situations for all stakeholders - or at least appropriate solutions which take all positions into account.

Indeed, the reason that the ERTICO Partnership has evolved is that ITS itself has evolved. ITS is in an important transitional phase from deployed island solutions with very limited data exchange networks and lack of interoperability towards a comprehensive co-modal data exchange network and seamless mobility services, where people, goods and vehicles are continuously and ubiquitously connected, receiving or sending useful data/information. Likewise, ITS is highly advanced with respect to most technologies to collect, provide, process and use vehicle, traveller and infrastructure data/information. Many ITS services already exist supporting traffic management, providing driver navigation and traveller information. These services can be further improved and will have substantial additional potential for serving customers.

With the evolution of the ERTICO Partnership, it should come as no surprise that ERTICO itself has evolved. While European (co-)funded projects are still a very important part of ERTICO’s service offering, ERTICO is addressing the need to enhance cooperation both within the different sectors and between them through the Sector Platform initiative, through its Fora and workshops, and through its productive relationship with the European Commission.

Deployment issues are not neglected either, through the ERTICO hosted TISA and ADASIS organisations, and through new deployment platforms such as the Cooperative Mobility Alliance. Likewise, ERTICO has recently established Task Forces on ITS issues of note, such as the Task Force on ITS for ElectroMobility, which is charged with developing an ITS roadmap for ElectroMobility and an implementation work plan for the ERTICO Partnership, or the Task Force on Safe and Secure Truck Parking, initiated in 2012 to map existing activities and identify short and medium term goals.

Another related initiative already bearing fruit is ERTICO’s efforts towards certification, standardisation and international harmonisation. In this regard, ERTICO teamed up with ETSI for the first Cooperative Mobility Services (CMS) Interoperability event in November 2011, the success of which inspired the recent second CMS Interoperability gathering in June 2012. ERTICO’s portfolio of MoU’s with its international peers is also impressive, with cooperation agreements signed with Russia and China in 2011, to add to the existing agreements with Japan and the United States. These agreements not only work towards the development of international standards and certain specific areas of interest, such as eCall / ERA GLONASS, but also provide opportunities for ERTICO Partners.

Along with international cooperation, ERTICO is also developing partnerships with public authority associations, such as EUROCITIES, with whom a Forum on ITS for Urban mobility was organised in May 2012, and with public authorities generally, recognising their importance in the deployment of ITS.

Not to mention the European and World ITS Congresses, which not only showcase the latest developments in the ITS world but are also full of demonstrations, highlighting to all and sundry not just what could be achieved through the deployment of ITS, but what can be achieved now…

This year’s General Assembly on 20 June 2012 was particularly significant as it is the first year following the modification of the ERTICO Statutes. All eight Sectors of the ERTICO Partnership will be represented in the newly elected Supervisory Board (SB) from now on. In addition a new Chairman of the SB, Jean Mesqui from ASFA, was appointed. The expansion of the SB will further guide the activities of the ERTICO Partnership while maintaining the necessary focus to ensure that tasks are met and goals achieved.

ERTICO is an initiative of ITS stakeholders who are willing to work together, share information and develop common positions. The combination of a broad partnership base, targeted and integrated activities as well as broad involvement in related ITS initiatives is the basis of its success in supporting the development and deployment of ITS. ERTICO is the initiative to enable effective cooperation of stakeholders towards intelligent mobility. ERTICO's professional team are there to facilitate and support effective cooperation of ERTICO Partners and ITS stakeholders.

The ERTICO initiative has as its ultimate goal to bring intelligence into mobility.

ERTICO exists to serve its Partners. To further discover how ERTICO can help meet your companies goals, or to discuss possible new initiatives, contact Rasmus Lindholm.

________________________________________

(1) Rates vary significantly between countries and counting methods, with Luxembourg generally top of the list – 7 cars/10*capita – Eurostat pocket book, Energy, transport and environment indicators, 2010 edition

ITS lessons from the land of the rising sun

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 15:17:39 +0200

By Henry Wasung

“The information and communication technology (IT) revolution is in essence a revolution of sovereignty over information” - Japan’s New Strategy in Information and Communications Technology.

Japan is facing interesting transport challenges. Of course, every country in world is facing transport challenges, especially if you consult those working in the transport industry, and perhaps Japan’s challenges, like those in other developed countries, cannot compare in sheer scale with developing countries, where urbanisation is occurring at an unprecedented rate. However, Japan does have a declining yet ever more urbanised population in a country with few natural resources and thus, especially following on from the earthquake in March 2011, a vested interest in energy diversification and management. So perhaps “interesting” is the mot juste.

A technologically advanced country with a strong manufacturing base, and a coherent and resilient society, Japan has bounced back from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, although much has changed.

Perhaps the most prominent change is the fact that all of Japan’s nuclear power plants were shut down, due to widespread public fears following the failure of cooling systems in the Fukushima nuclear power plant – although some have restarted, as of July 2012. However, Japan generated 30% of its electricity through nuclear power, so clearly this has had a huge effect, giving rise at one point to speculation that there would be rolling “brown-outs” – thankfully avoided.

Energy was first on the list of transport challenges faced by Japan, according to Hajime Amano, President of ITS Japan, who notes “in addition to the reduction of CO2 emissions, diversification of energy sources and supply management are immediate challenges”. Mr Amano went on to underline that the electrification of vehicles poses additional challenges in this regard; “cars are no longer simple consumers of energy but an integral part of smart grid systems”.

This is an interesting insight, as the full scale electrification of all vehicles would, if all other factors remain the same, actually decrease energy diversity – the switch from petrol or diesel to electricity simply means that more electricity has to be produced at source. This may well be good for a number of reasons, not least city air quality and noise levels, but would be an additional – albeit manageable – factor in energy supply.

Safety is second on Mr Amano’s list of transport challenges, which bring a wry smile to Amaury Cornelis’ face. Mr Cornelis, project manager at ERTICO, having lived in Japan for several years through his time at Toyota, was kind enough to give his insights and anecdotes regarding transport, ITS and Japan for this article. Mr Cornelis stressed the uniqueness of many of the safety related regulations to be found in Japan, including the fact that every car sold there must have an electronic speed limiter, albeit at a generous 180kph, or the mandatory third mirror for vans, MPVs and SUVs. Logically, drink driving is a strict no-no.

On the other hand, this is far from a paradox, as Mr Cornelis goes on to explain that, certainly in comparison with many European countries, Japan prioritises safety, with companies organising road safety meetings and trainings on a frequent basis, and road signs exhorting the driver to drive in a conscientious manner. So it should come as no surprise that even with a good record in road safety, Mr Amano brings our attention to it.

Specifically, Mr Amano, acknowledging the success in continually bringing down the number of fatalities, identifies vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists, especially the elderly) as an area for action, as they make up about half of road casualties. “Market penetration of already available safety technologies is important to bring the full benefit to society” underlines Mr Amano, who further highlighted that the scope of cooperative services must be expanded to include people, as only in this way could VRUs – who by definition are not in connected cars – can benefit from the proven potential of these services. The promotional film for the 2013 ITS World Congress, to be held in Tokyo, gives some nice examples of the latter.

An interesting consequence, also to be found elsewhere in the developed world, of urbanisation, especially to Tokyo, and an aging population, is third on Mr Amano’s list, under the title “enhanced mobility”. What does this mean? The depopulation and increased age of Japan’s rural communities mean that “…public transport operators stop services one route after another because of financial difficulties.” This has a downward spiral effect for those communities, and seriously affects the standard of living of their remaining populace, who may have other transport limitations.

But Mr Amano is upbeat. “With new modes of transport, such as on-demand bus services and Personal Mobility Vehicles, coupled with efficient management of the multimodal network, we will be able to provide all the population, with decent and sustainable means of transport for a better quality of life and the revitalisation of those communities.

Fourth on Mr Amano’s list is another direct consequence of the March 2011 earthquake, that of resilient transport chains. The whole world had another wake-up call about the dangers in relying on just-in-time delivery and supplier concentration, although of course Japan was most affected. Mr Amano emphasises that “rebuilding global supply chains… will also strengthen agile global operations to respond to top radical fluctuations of the global market. Dependable and efficient transport networks is one of the key factors”.

In this regard Mr Amano also highlighted the role that ERTICO and ITS Japan has to play. “ITS is the key technology to effectively and efficiently manage such global systems and international harmonisation is a very essential enzyme for the systems to evolve. Cooperation between ERTICO and ITS Japan will play substantial roles to sustain such development.”

The Japanese government is also responding to these challenges, set out in a New Strategy in Information and Communications Technology on 11 May 2010 followed by its roadmap on 22 June 2010. Mr Amano explains and emphasises that “…under the strategy, national projects on ITS have been initiated targeting deployment around 2014 in the following areas:

cooperative driving safety support systems

greening the transport of people and goods

consolidating and distributing wide-area road traffic information

advancing traffic control technology”

Japan has been quick to deploy ITS technologies. Mr Amano highlights the relatively quick development of standards and private sector cooperation as key factors, thanks to the uniform nature of Japanese society. In Europe, consensus building takes longer, as befitting of a club of 27 sovereign countries.

“We are working hard on connected vehicle systems using vehicle-to-infrastructure communication and vehicle-to-vehicle communication. The first phase of deployment was completed in 2010, with about 1,600 roadside antennas installed along the highways. To further expand the applications including congestion mitigation, government and industries are conducting field evaluation tests” explains Mr Amano.

An integrated ITS information service platform is also being developed, drawing on the lessons learnt in the Great East Japan Earthquake.

“We are building regional information centres in some model cities. In addition to traffic management centres, a platform is being set up where other information, such as weather, public transport and infrastructure status is also shared on a cloud network system. Daily services are provided by both public sector and private sector. Dynamic route guidance for shortest time or lowest energy consumption, promotion of local events, and other local community services are anticipated. In an emergency, the information network is turned into crisis management mode. Local government takes control to deliver evacuation orders, guidance to shelters, information on safety of community members, and relief goods supplies” explains Mr Amano.

For more information on the benefits of ERTICO-ITS Japan cooperation, please contact Vincent Blervaque.

Useful links:
New Strategy in Information and Communications Technology
Memorandum of Cooperation on "Cooperative Systems in the Field of Intelligent Transport Systems", EU-Japan, 9 June 2011, at the European ITS Congress, Lyon

ITS World Congress 2013 - Tokyo

ITS enters a new stage: technological evolution helps create safe, comfortable, sustainable societies
All over the world, intelligent transport systems (ITS) including car navigation systems, electronic toll collection (ETC) and traffic information services have become familiar and essential aids to transportation and the movement of people. By actively utilising ITS and databases and integrating them with peripheral systems and technologies, society is now entering a new stage of ITS applications that go beyond the transportation field to offer a wider range of services.

The theme for the 20th ITS World Congress Tokyo 2013 is “Open ITS to the Next.” While retaining a focus on resolving transport problems, this theme aptly conveys the expansion of next-generation ITS into new domains. We hope to welcome as many participants as possible from emerging countries in Asia and elsewhere, which face a growing array of transport issues.

“The ITS World Congress 2013 in Tokyo is not a Japanese world congress but an Asia-Pacific world congress. Transport network investment Decision makers from all the Asia-Pacific member counties and regions will get together to share challenges and ITS visions to maintain the growth of their society, which is driving the world economy. I would like to strongly encourage our European colleagues to join and share your technologies and experiences with participants from rapidly growing countries.” Hajime Amano, President of ITS Japan

A Farewell to a Renaissance Man

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:34:24 +0200

Job Klijnhout 1941 – 2012

by Eric Sampson

Many people are able to tell you exactly where they were when they heard the news of President Kennedy’s assassination. I can tell you exactly where I was when I first met Job Klijnhout and where I was when I heard the news of his terrible illness and the awful inevitability. Richard Harris and John Miles have written a lucid account of Job’s numerous contributions to transport; this note records some more personal memories.

Way back in 1987 I had gone to the old Berlaymont building for my first meeting of a Transport Officials Working Group and over coffee before the start had committed the UK Civil Servant crime of having a public argument with another Department. I was unimpressed by support for a proposal to fund a particular line of work on the grounds that it would contribute little if successful and I was certain that I had seen some results from similar work elsewhere but I hadn’t been able to find any evidence. The meeting started and after a short time an envelope travelled round the room addressed to me c/o the UK delegation. Inside was a note saying “hope you don’t mind but I heard what you said earlier. You are quite right; a waste of time and money as the Netherlands project in this area showed that you spend lots and get littles(sic) “ It was signed ‘J J K’. Armed with this I grabbed the microphone at a suitable point and torpedoed the proposal saying loftily “And I believe the Netherlands Government has conducted some trials in this area which support my point of view”.

Afterwards I went to thank him and we ended up sitting together in a group over dinnerand formed a friendship that lasted 25 years. For a lot of that time we served on various EC Committees and I would like to think we enabled progress in many difficult areas by assembling small groups of experts outside the formal proceedings to take problems apart. Job would lead the dissection and I would break pencils taking notes to write up the results as a “bout de papier” to be given to the Commission officials the next day. During this time I became aware of Job’s love of the English language and in particularEnglish humour and television comedy shows. I doubt there are many Dutch folk who today could recite the words of the Monty Python “Cheese Shop” or “Dead Parrot” sketches. Some years later I introduced him to the works of Tom Stoppard and he telephoned me at home to enthuse about the section in “Travesties” where four characters each make sensible coherent speeches but they are interleaved so that the result is a series of limericks. “You can only do this in English!”.

He was also an enthusiastic fan of A. Milne and could recite long tracts from “Winnie the Pooh” with no difficulty. He was fascinated by what he saw as the precision of English and said to me once “The Inuit are supposed to have 30 different words for snow but only in English are there 30 ways to write something nice about someone while being rude in a way they do not understand”. From time to time an e-mail would arrive from Job asking me to look at his English and if necessary change it so that he could be apparently nice to someone while delivering a severe reprimand. He relished puns and I borrowed his official envelope routine in an FP4 meeting sending the Netherlands Delegation the question “What’s brown and sticky?” I returned his reply “Hunny” [a Winnie the Pooh quote] and he laughed out loud to the Chairman’s bewilderment after he read “No; a stick”.

I can’t recall when I became aware of his love of music. He followed the Royal Concertgebouw and Haitink around the world and I remember sitting in the Festival Hall in London waiting for their concert to begin when my wife whispered “there’s a man with amazing hair waving at you as if he knows you”. I used to think that he listened only to Bruckner and Marler and occasionally would send him a CD to widen his tastes. He responded to receiving Hilary Hahn and the Bach Partitas with “I used to think only American men could play the violin properly; now I know better”. Paul Lewis’s Beethoven sonatas were rewarded with “I think it’s time for another visit to the UK. Where have you been hiding him?”

He was very knowledgeable about art and history too. When we had the ITS World Congresses in Chicago and Turin those of us intending to make cultural visits asked Job first for recommendations and among the treasures he revealed are the ‘canal boat’ trips and Monet collection in Chicago and the underappreciated artist Morandi in Turin.

I haven’t mentioned his professional work. As Richard and John have illustrated he was a pioneer; a visionary; an evangelist for a new way of thinking. In a world where too many are worried about the trivial consequences of failure he focused on the much larger benefits from success and constantly argued “let’s try it. If it turns out not to work as we predict then we stop it”. And it did work: the standard Netherlands intersection controller, the Motorway signalling system, the section control system for speed enforcement in the Netherlands, the small national architecture experimentthat developed into the European standard. The Netherlands' excellent road safety record rests hugely on his innovations.

Job believed in cooperation especially international cooperation and he was a founding member of ITS America, ERTICO and ITS Netherlands. During a spell working with Minnesotan colleagues he attended a Rural ITS Congress in Colorado where a surgeon explained the benefits from immediate trauma help after traffic accidents and introduced the term ‘Golden Hours’ – no trauma help within 2 hours is invariably final. Job immediately recognised the significance of this which led him to press the case for changes to the management of emergency services which we all now take for granted and which are visible as the globally accepted 911 and 112 numbers. The ITS World Congress was his idea as was “ITS in Europe”. He was disappointed that the original title as used in Amsterdam of “IT’S in Europe” was suppressed on the grounds that it didn’t translate into French. His comment was the somewhat acerbic “French isn’t the language of Europe; English is”.

And suddenly he is no longer with us. He announced last year that he intended to retire “properly” so would not work on the Austrian World Congress and we sent him off with our best wishes. He was planning various trips with Tineke including tastings at selected Scottish distilleries and we exchanged mails about which ones should be included and in which order. Suddenly in early May we had the news that he was “seriously” ill and it soon became clear that this really meant “terminally”. I gather that the doctors estimated three or four weeks but Job was in good general health and he had the last laugh in proving them wrong by more than doubling their estimate.

His funeral/cremation was a sad but not a despondent event. Karen and Inger, his daughters, each gave a short address about “my dad” – and huge thanks to whoever secured their texts and translated them for the considerable number of overseas mourners – accompanied by a short piece of music. They were followed by Tineke and Jette, a longstanding family friend, who likewise spoke with associated poetry and music. And then at the end we were spared the artificial ‘transition’ involving conveyor belts, curtains, descending coffins and instead had a quiet, civilised moment to pay personal respects with Bruckner’s Fifth, one of his favourites, in the background.

How we miss him. He contributed so much in so many areas. He was truly a Renaissance Man.

ERTICO interview with Prof. Dr Orhan Alankuş - Okan University

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 13:54:35 +0200

ERTICO: Can you describe Okan University's activities in the ITS field?

Orhan Alankuş: Okan University has an “Intelligent Transport and Automotive Systems Research Centre” (ITAS). In this centre there is research going on in different areas. The first area is autonomous vehicles. Using GPS information and the LIDAR system, Okan University's autonomous car can follow a certain path, checking for any obstacles on the road. Today, the work is on-going for the improvement of the system for different traffic scenarios and the integration of environmental perception.

Another important area is communicating vehicles, V2V and V2X systems. Okan University is participating in a joint project between TOFAS-FIAT, Ford Otosan and Koc System in Turkey. The University participated in the Grand Cooperating Driving Challenge, held in Holland in May 2011.

Electric vehicles are another area of Okan University research. There are joint projects with OEM companies for the development of efficient electric motors, drive systems and also energy optimisation control systems.

Logistics optimisation and public transport optimisation systems represent another area where Okan University engineers have a certain level of experience.

The University collaborates also with Prof. Dr Umit Ozguner from Ohio State University who is involved in the autonomous vehicle and communicating vehicles projects of Okan University too.

ERTICO: Why have you joined ERTICO - ITS Europe? What are your expectations for this Partnership?

Orhan Alankuş: ITAS has a vision to be one of the best “Centre of Excellences” in the world on intelligent transport systems by the end of 2020. Such a vision requires being in the network of the best companies and research centres in the field. After investigating, we have seen that ERTICO is one of the best networks for intelligent transport systems that bring together the research performing companies and universities. We intend to be actively participate at meetings and contribute to the sharing and extension of knowledge - and projects - in the field.

As a university which has many departments and specialisations in industrial engineering, civil engineering, computer science engineering, mechanical, electrical/electronic, automotive and mechatronics engineering and who has a vision on Intelligent Transport Technologies, all related departments organise their research to support this field and achieve the related objectives. This will provide a unique and innovative contribution to the joint projects.

ERTICO: Are there any projects, activities or sectors within the ERTICO Partnership you are particularly interested in? Which ones?

Orhan Alankuş: Cooperative mobility, autonomous vehicles, electromobility and comprehensive energy management are subjects in which Okan University can make a valuable contribution. Logistics optimisation and integrated personal transport in smart cities are also subjects that Okan University can support. Okan University has experienced researchers in technology and innovation strategies who can support the research and innovation activities of ERTICO and Europe.

ERTICO: Okan University has recently organised and hosted a workshop on ITS which focused on research priorities in the ITS field. Can you tell us more about these priorities and the future trends Okan University and Turkey in general intend to invest in?

Orhan Alankuş: Okan University is part of National Automotive Technology Platform of Turkey. The Technology Platform has come up with a strategy plan in the Automotive Field for Turkey. Okan University ITAS has decided to detail the ITS part of the general strategic plan. We organised two workshops to develop the ITS Strategy of Turkey. One in 9 December 2011 and the other on 15 May 2012. There were participants from around 50 different companies, state organisations, associations and universities to both meetings.

On 9 December 2011, after the presentations from experts and the state organisations, working groups were formed and special sessions were organised to determine the strategic plan priortiies. The main results was:

Research on
•    Energy efficient, effective, safe public transport and logistics systems
•    Full electric and hybrid vehicle technologies
•    Communicating vehicles and systems
•    Autonomous vehicle systems

For the objectives of
•    Zero accidents
•    Safe and clean transport
•    Effective public and goods transport

On 15 May with Paul Kompfner from ERTICO, Fraunhofer Inst, Siemens, TOFAS, and Ford, another workshop was organised. Mr Kompfner gave an interesting presentation explaining the priorities of Europe in the ITS field. Other participants have also explained strategies and applications. The workshop consolidated the strategic priorities developed previously.

In Turkey the intelligent road infrastructure and effective exploitation of traffic information are also very important and a lot of work is being carried out in these fields.

ERTICO: With these priorities in mind, who are the other stakeholders in Turkey that should be part of future ITS deployments?

Orhan Alankuş: Okan University is keeping close contacts with stakeholders in Turkey. The Transport Ministry is one of the main actors. The Istanbul Municipality also believes in intelligent transport and has many plans and investments in the area. Electronic and software companies, telecommunication companies, automotive industry both OEM’s and suppliers, logistics organisations and companies are all part of the stakeholders with whom Okan University is in contact. There are also many innovative companies in Technoparks in Turkey. Okan University is located near to a few big technoparks and is working to establish a research network in ITS.

ERTICO: What policy/political issues do you think the European Union should address or needs to consider in order to strengthen the cooperation with Turkey and other international actors?

Orhan Alankuş: Basic science, related to intelligent transport and automotive systems exist. Now, the major challenge is the development of value added new technologies and innovative products. In order to satisfy the challenge, innovation is very important. For innovation, we have to tap all the innovative potential in different countries. Therefore an “open innovation system” is vital. Turkey should be involved in research projects to a greater extent. An open innovation channel and network should be established encompassing all actors in the field from all over the world. Proprietary rights will be one important issue for such a system to be addressed in detail.

About Okan Unıversity Transport Technologies and Intelligent Automotıve Systems Applicatıon and Research Centre

Okan University, one of the youngest and the most dynamic universities of Turkey, was founded in 1999 and began its academic life in 2003-2004. Since the 2006-2007 academic year, the rapidly growing university has been located in its new and modern Akfırat campus.

True to its motto, “The University Closest to Business Life,” Okan University effectively combines theory and practice by employing an academic staff who are experts in their own fields, adopting a contemporary approach to education, and focusing upon practice-oriented studies which prepare the students for business life, starting from students’ very first year of study. Indeed, the University, which had the pleasure of presenting its first graduates with their diplomas in 2006-2007, has fulfilled the promise of its motto, as all members of its first graduating class of graduates have found employment. Okan University aims to build a bridge between the academic and the business world.

Intelligent Technology Systems enable elements within the transportation system to become intelligent by embedding them with microchips and sensors and enable them to communicate with each other through wireless technologies. Interest and development of in this technology results from the problems caused by traffic congestion and a synergy of new information technology for simulation, real-time control and communications networks. Congestion reduces efficiency of transportation infrastructure and increases travel time, air pollution as well as fuel consumption. ITS maximise the capacity of infrastructure, reduc¬ing the need to build additional highway capacity. Okan University has therefore decided to create an Intelligent Transport Technologies Research Center in 2009 as the R&D potential is not sufficiently explored and must be activated to contribute to intense ongoing research activities in Turkey and in Europe in order to improve the efficiency and cleanliness of transport globally.

Okan University has an advantageous location. It is actually placed at the heart of the Turkish Automotive Industry that means 20 km from a Toyota Plant, 100 km from Ford Otosan, 40 km From TAYSAD Industry Zone (Automotive Suppliers), from Gebze Industry Zone and from the Technopark Istanbul (Technology Development Zone). The presence of Istanbul Park, a Formula 1 circuit of 5 338 kilometres, in the neighbourhood of OKAN University’s Campus in Tuzla-Akfırat is another advantage. Okan University is located in Istanbul where major challenges remain in the efficiency of the transportat system. The disjoint geographical layout of Istanbul together with insufficient road network capacity, two bridges crossing the Bosphorus strait and narrow access roads have generated constraints on the transportation system. For the millions of motor vehicles traversing the city roads, there are two transit highway routes (TEM-Trans European Motorway and Bosphorus Bridges Roads).

The centre in expansion has the vision and mission as follows:

Contribute in R&D in the areas of intelligent vehicles, intelligent transport systems, unmanned vehicles, robots, robot groups, advanced automotive technologies, electric transport technologies, fuel cells, vehicle technologies that use solar cells and similar clean and renewable energies, development and application of complicated simulation and virtual environments

Performing foresight activities by following academic and technological activities and examining tendencies to determine future technologies in areas of Transport Technologies and Intelligent Automotive Systems (ITTS)

Cooperate, organise common activities, prepare application and research projects, generate resources and apply and/or follow the projects with national and international public and private organisations that perform activities in the concerned areas

Organise vocational education programs in the changing areas of transport technologies and intelligent systems, and in this context educate employees of the automotive and subsidiary industry as well as public and private organisations

To develop a library, electronic information bank, and archive for research in the areas of TTIS, to join national and international information webs or develop a new one if necessary, prepare periodicals or books in topics in the concerned areas

To encourage masters and doctorate study, cooperate with the Science Institute to open programs in topics in the concerned areas.

For more information, visit Okan University website.

News from TISA - Matthias Unbehaun appointed new TISA Executive Director

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:36:09 +0200

Earlier this month Matthias Unbehaun was appointed the new TISA designated Executive Director. He will work with Bev Marks, current TISA Executive Director, until the end of 2012, when Mr Marks will step down from the role.

Matthias Unbehaun stated that "it will be a challenge to step into the rather large footprint that Bev has in the TISA world, but I am looking forward to working with him and dealing with future TISA challenges".

Bev Marks said: "I am delighted that TISA has been able to arrange a long period when Matthias and I can work together, and with our colleagues in the Executive Office, to provide a smooth transition that will ensure continued development of TISA Member services".

This appointment completes the management team in TISA following the General Assembly in May when Thomas Kusche from WDR was elected President and Dave Francis, INRIX, was elected Treasurer.

For more information, visit TISA website.

Latest edition of the iCar Support Newsletter

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:48:04 +0200

The issue 5 (January - July 2012) of the biannual iCar Support newsletter is now available. In this issue you will find the report on the second iMobility Forum Plenary Meeting, the latest news on the new iMobility Forum Working Groups, a summary of the iMobility Forum Recommendations, and much more.

Read the iCar Support Newsletter.

"Call for Papers" for Tokyo 2013 is now open!

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 09:37:32 +0200

You are invited to submit your papers to be presented at the 20th ITS World Congress in Tokyo on 14-18 October 2013.

Visit the official website and submit your paper!

Authors with excellent papers will be invited to publish their work in the noted journals. The submission deadline is 11 January 2013.

The Organising Committee is also inviting the technology demonstration presenters as well as exhibitors.

More details can be found on the Congress website.

EU Ministers declare Intelligent Communications Transport the way forward for an inter-connected Europe

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:16:23 +0200

EU Ministers of Transport and Telecommunications reached a common understanding on the future steps for boosting the Connecting Europe Facility and its objectives for growth and economic recovery, through “Intelligent Communications Transport”. During the Informal Transport and Telecommunications meeting in Lefkosia (Nicosia) on July 17, the ministers underlined the positive effects of optimising the use of information and communications technologies for transport.

The discussions focused on the integration of two central EU policies, the Digital Agenda for Europe and the EU transport policy. Paraphrasing the well-known abbreviation ICT (Information Communications Technology) to “Intelligent Communications Transport”, the Cyprus Presidency initiated a debate concerning the potential benefits that could arise from the successful interaction of these two policy areas.

Open data as a key element to Smart Transport
The ministers widely acknowledged the enormous economic and social potential of opening up public data for re-use and especially in the case of transport data, as it could be a source for innovative products and services and a real engine for economic growth and job creation.

“Transport data is of great commercial value and offers plenty of potential for re-use. This re-use on transport data can significantly contribute in making transport more efficient and reliable,” the Minister of Communications and Works of the Republic of Cyprus Mr Efthymios Flourentzou underlined.

During the informal meeting, ministers also decided to push for the development of a pan-European Open Data Portal and agreed to incorporate their own national open datasets.

“The development of a pan-European Open Data Portal will contribute to the establishment of new and innovative services for the European society, which will make access to data from across Europe much easier,” Mr Flourentzou emphasised.

The Cyprus Presidency, along with the EU ministers, also stressed the fundamental role that data plays in developing and providing related Intelligent Transport Services (ITS) and highlighted the need of ensuring the availability of, and accessibility to this data.

“By acknowledging that open data is the oil of the digital age, we have to make sure that open data can actually fuel to the expectable extent and even beyond such important initiatives like Smart Transport,” the Vice President of the European Commission Mr Siim Kallas underlined.

Ministers invited the Commission to jointly explore ways to improve access and re-use of transport data.

Deploying ITS and multimodality in and between cities
During the meeting, the EU Ministers echoed the Cyprus Presidency position for the imperative need of a wider deployment of ITS and the substantial role it can play in fostering economic growth and sustainable mobility. They also acknowledged the need for developing European Multimodal Journey Planners and integrated ticketing.

EU ministers also challenged the European transport industry to come up with innovative solutions for planning and booking trips door-to-door across the EU, using as many modes needed in order to come up with an optimal route and acceptable prices. Industry representatives highlighted the importance of developing multimodal journey planners for Europe and its citizens.

“The deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems has enormous potentials and useful applications to all modes of transport. Our citizens deserve an effective ITS in Europe,” the Cypriot Minister said.

The outcome of the meeting, which shapes the Presidency’s Conclusions will be presented at the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems to be hosted in Austria in October.

Source: Cyprus Presidency to the European Union

Global software radio – the new car radios from Continental equipped with powerful software

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 13:54:08 +0200

Continental, an ERTICO Partner, is replacing conventional receiver technologies in car radios. Digital technology with powerful software creates new entertainment possibilities in the Continental Global Software Radio, and lowers costs thanks to streamlined hardware.

With its Global Software Radio technology, the international automotive supplier Continental is replacing a large part of the hardware in conventional radios with intelligent software. This will allow automotive manufacturers to offer their customers modern radio entertainment at lower cost. In a test setup Continental is already able to demonstrate the diversity possible through the Global Software Radio. For example, it can play several radio stations simultaneously. Using loudspeakers and additional headset outlets, car drivers and rear seat passengers can listen to their favourite stations independently of each other. The Global Software Radio also allows the driver to listen to a station while a different channel is being recorded. It can also look for the most up-to-date traffic information in the background and provide this to the driver. It makes no difference whether the signals are digital or analogue. The Global Software Radio is future-proof, as new radio broadcasting standards or new data services can be integrated with a software update. Conventional radios can only offer this diversity by using additional – and comparably expensive – hardware.

“The diversity offered by Continental’s Global Software Radio turns listening to the radio into a new experience. New services can be easily integrated into the device when the software is being updated. This allows vehicle manufacturers to offer top-class infotainment throughout the vehicle’s entire service life,” explains Kieran O’Sullivan, head of Continental’s Infotainment & Connectivity business unit, speaking of the advantages of the new technology.

One for all: The Software Radio meets nearly all radio broadcasting standards worldwide

Automotive manufacturers look for product and system solutions that can be used all over the world. Therefore the Global Software Radio offers vehicle manufacturers world-ready functionality. Regardless of whether a radio receives HD radio in the USA or DAB in Germany, the different standards can be met by simply changing the software. The automotive manufacturer can use the processor’s computing capacity to scale the diversity of functions offered by the Software Radio. The more powerful the processor, the more functions the radio offers. Using a fast processor, the radio can play or record several digital radio channels simultaneously for different listeners, for example. This makes the technology suitable for cars from the smallest class right up to those in the luxury class.

“The ability to offer car manufacturers worldwide a diverse radio infotainment system with a significantly reduced number of product variants is a decisive factor in ensuring the breakthrough of the Global Software Radio. We have already entered series production with various automotive manufacturers using parts of the Software Radio technology, and are witnessing a rising demand that confirms this trend,” says O’Sullivan.

Less hardware for more energy efficiency

The Software Radio is also the right option for electromobility with its special requirements regarding energy efficiency. The formula behind this is simple: less hardware means less weight, space and power consumption compared to conventional technologies with a similar diversity of functions.

With sales of €30.5 billion in 2011, Continental is among the leading automotive suppliers worldwide. As a supplier of brake systems, systems and components for powertrains and chassis, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics, tires and technical elastomers, Continental contributes to enhanced driving safety and global climate protection. Continental is also an expert partner in networked automobile communication. Continental currently has approximately 167,000 employees in 46 countries.

The Automotive Group with its three divisions Chassis & Safety (sales of approximately €6.5 billion in 2011, 33,000 employees), Powertrain (sales of approximately €5.8 billion in 2011, 31,000 employees) and Interior (sales of approximately €6.1 billion in 2011, 32,000 employees) achieved sales of approximately €18.4 billion in 2011. The Automotive Group is present in more than 170 locations worldwide. As a partner of the automotive and commercial vehicle industry, it develops and produces innovative products and systems for a modern automotive future in which cars provide individual mobility and driving pleasure consistent with driving safety, environmental responsibility and cost efficiency.

The Chassis & Safety division develops and produces electronic and hydraulic brake and chassis control systems, sensors, driver assistance systems, airbag electronics and sensors, windshield washer systems and electronic air suspension systems. Its core competence is the integration of active and passive driving safety into ContiGuard®. The Powertrain division integrates innovative and efficient system solutions for vehicle powertrains. The comprehensive range of products includes gasoline and diesel injection systems, engine management and transmission control, including sensors and actuators, as well as fuel supply systems and components and systems for hybrid and electric drives. Information management is at the very heart of the Interior division, which provides a range of products that includes instrument clusters and multifunctional displays, control units, electronic car-entry systems, tire-monitoring systems, radios, multimedia and navigation systems, climate control systems, telematics solutions and cockpit modules and systems.

For more information, please contact:
Sebastian Fillenberg
Enno Pflug

Gemalto machine identification module first to achieve ISO/TS 16949

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:14:59 +0200

Enabling automotive M2M applications with unrivalled quality assurances and certified production processes

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security and creator of the Cinterion Machine-to-Machine (M2M) products and services, has announced its new automotive-grade Machine Identification Module (MIM) is the first to achieve highest level ISO/TS 16949 certification for state-of-the-art production processes plus a suite of assurances for superior quality products. Gemalto’s auto-grade MIM is used by mobile operators, automotive manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers to identify individual vehicles, encrypt M2M communications and ensure secure global connectivity for applications such as smart vehicle systems, eCall emergency solutions and vehicle telematics.

With ISO/TS 16949 certification, Gemalto auto-grade MIMs can be tracked and traced during vehicle production, installation and throughout lifetime driving for up to 15 years. Gemalto provides the ability to quickly identify and locate specific MIMs within 48 hours. These highly robust qualities are crucial to proper risk management in the automotive industry where vehicles and critical components are often warranted for life.

“Juniper Research estimates there will be 92 million connected vehicles in operation by 2016 and as consumers increasingly rely on systems providing convenience, security and polluting emission reduction such as embedded navigation and real time traffic updates, the need for fail safe wireless connectivity has never been greater,” said Benoit Jouffrey, Vice President of M2M Value Added Services at Gemalto. “Our auto-grade MIM provides drivers with confidence that their onboard communications systems will be secure and reliable for the prolonged life of their vehicles.”

The ruggedised Gemalto auto-grade MIM is engineered for enhanced durability, endurance and longevity even in operating conditions of extreme heat, vibration, corrosion and humidity. It offers advanced operating system features for optimized memory management and data retention, such as a 17-year lifespan and one billion erase/write cycles, which provides access to unprecedented information to improve the driving experience while preserving the valuable history of connected vehicle communications.

In addition, Gemalto offers a suite of ISO/TS 16949 certified Cinterion Modules for automotive M2M communication, offering simultaneous voice and high speed data communications for today’s advanced connected vehicle solutions. OEMs, developers and car manufacturers can speed up integration of high quality communications technology and simplify their deployment by leveraging Gemalto’s MIMs together with a complete portfolio of automotive M2M modules, complemented by flexible over-the-air provisioning and servicing solutions.

Click here for more information

ERTICO meeting with Radio Association of China

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:46:08 +0200

Mr Zhu Sanbao, Executive Vice Chairman and head of delegation of RAC, leading a six-people group, visited the ERTICO premises in Brussels on 2 July 2012. Mr Juhani Jääskeläinen, Head of Unit, ICT for Transport, EC DG INFSO, Mr Thomas Kusche, WDR, President of TISA and Dr Yanying Li, Senior Project Manager, welcomed them.

During the meeting, several important issues were discussed, such as the European private communication related standardisation status and organisation works, as well as the possibility for China to participate in these works. Mr Zhu pointed out some questions about how these standardisation statuses in Europe could applied to Chinese social and political situations. Mr Kusche provided him with some suggestions and deep insights. The discussion also included topics such as the working relations between ERTICO and other related organisations (including ETSI, CEN, and CENELEC) in Europe, and the private communication network and services projects in ITS in Europe such as TISA.

The visiting members also include Mr Li Xiayu, Senior Engineer of CATR, Mrs Dong Jie, Engineer of State Radio Monitoring Center, Mr Chen Xiaozhou, 1st Scientist of Datang Telecom Group, Mrs Feng Zhiyong, Professor of Beijing University of P&T, and Mr Zhang Tiechen, Director of Liaison Department of RAC.

smartCEM first newsletter now available!

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:32:48 +0200

The first smartCEM newsletter is now available! smartCEM is a CIP pilot project with the aim of encouraging the use of electric vehicles, currently underutilised due to their limitations and lack of people's confidence in this transport mode. smartCEM will run pilots for five advanced Electric Vehicle (EV) mobility services - EV-navigation, EV-efficient driving, EV-trip management, EV-charging station management and EV-sharing management - to designed to address these limitations and increase confidence.

Find out the latest developments in smartCEM, and stay in touch with the cutting edge in electric vehicles! Sign up to the smartCEM mailing list here

Open publication - Free publishing - More ertico

Download the pdf here

Podcasts about the ecoDriver project now available

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 16:46:33 +0200

You can now watch several podcasts about the ecoDriver’s developments in the recently launched website. Oliver Carsten (project coordinator, University of Leeds), for example, describes the overall project goals and distinguishes ecoDriver from other projects and systems. Rino Brouwer, from TNO, explains how ecoDriver will use different human-machine interfaces to encourage eco-driving. And Olivier Orfila, from IFFSTAR, details the development of powertrain models as a basis of vehicle energy and emissions estimation. The website has also been enriched with several resources about eco-driving such as a list of recent publications.

If you wish to receive regular updates about the project, including podcasts, be sure to join the Forum. Registration is free. You’ll then receive one email every two months with a compilation of the news during that period.

Amitran Forum is waiting for you

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 16:39:38 +0200

The Amitran project will develop a methodology to estimate well-to-wheel CO2 reductions achieved by Intelligent Transport Systems. While this a highly relevant topic given that the European Commission aims to cut CO2 emissions from transport by 60% until 2050, it is also greatly interdisciplinary. Therefore the project has set up a Forum whereby interested citizens and organisations can receive regular information and also actively contribute, eventually being invited to workshops, for example. We hope this way to have the different sectors of relevance to Amitran represented, including representatives from different transport modes (car, bus, train, inland shipping), and users (municipalities, logistical companies, consultancies, etc.). Registration is free and can be performed via a form on the website

RACC Automobile Club has released an improved version of its free Real-Time and Predictive Traffic and Travel Information website

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 15:27:23 +0200

ERTICO Partner RACC (Reial Automòbil Club de Catalunya) has upgraded its free traffic and travel information website adding a bunch of brand new features.

RACC launched its RTTI website in 2009, and since then constant improvements and new content has been added; the website provided speed-based traffic flow information (based on loop sensor and FCD crowd-sourcing), incident and journalistic data, more than 1 100 traffic cameras, daily updated fuel prices from more than 8 000 fuel stations, all static speed cameras across Spain and traffic flow information for other 18 EU countries.

The recently released version of the website (which requires users to register to the RACC corporative website) adds the following features:

Predictive traffic up to 12 hours in advance.
Routing engine that provides the most efficient route (in terms of travel time) taking traffic congestion into account.
Customisation features such as favourite traffic cameras and predefined views.
Traffic alerts: users can configure customized alerts for their daily commutes or vacation trips and RACC’s traffic information server will “push” traffic alerts (congestion, incidents, roadworks or weather) by email.

For more information, visit the RACC website.

Ertico News Rss Feed

Webinar: ITS European Congress conclusions and Best Paper awards

When: Tuesday 11 June 11:00 CET

Mobile phones and bank cards to replace tickets for travelling in London

Congress Webinar: presentations available

Don't miss our second webinar after the Congress!

ITS America: User Survey

Amitran Workshop on Assessment Methodologies for CO2 emissions effects due to ICT in transport

Amitran’s second European Workshop will be held on 15 May in Brussels

Compass4D project consortium meets in Denmark where 90 buses will be equipped and trialed for at least one year

PARC Announces Contextual Intelligence Software Platform for Automotive Industry

WirelessCar awarded “Outstanding China Telematics Product”

Workshop Invitation: Intelligent Transport Systems in emerging markets

The MOTIT web portal for electric scooter sharing goes live!

SEE-ITS: Intelligent Transport Systems in South East Europe

ITS United Kingdom makes Awards for excellence in Intelligent Transport Systems

Congress Webinar: Presentation of the congress programme & mobile app

You are invited to join our webinar for a walk through the 9th ITS European Congress in Dublin. Discover the ITS European Congress 2013 programme and the new App that will guide you through the programme and around the Convention Centre.

Register for the webinar

Friday 3 May 11:00 CET

Special rail discount for all ITS Congress delegates

Travelling to the ITS Congress in Dublin?

Thinking of taking an overnight break or day trip when attending the ITS Congress?

Why not book the train!

Co-Cities opens Call to become part of Co-Cities PRIME

eCoMove – Online Acceptance Survey

First iMobility Challenge Newsletter available

TRA announce 5th conference for April 2014 and postpone abstract submission until 30/04/2013

iMobility Support and FOTNET launch Call for Tender on probe data

EU-Latin American Transport Cooperation

ITS America announces a Request for Proposals for Module Authors for a new ITS web resource

Interview: Zeljko Jeftic of IRU Projects

9th ITS European Congress & Exhibition: Registration Open

Registration & Accommodation Booking Now OpenInteractive online timetable available

eCall developing in Europe and going International

My Testfest Quest

Towards Futurama – Developments in Road Transport Automation

Open session on TMC and TPEG technology in Seattle

U.S. DOT publishes Request for Information on multimodal transportation automation

Transport for London launches competition to create ‘Accessibility Apps’

European Space Expo coming to Dublin

Next venues

ITS America appoints John Miles as Technical Editor

Siemens begins production of On-Board-Units for new satellite-based toll system

DRIVE C2X announce test site event in Götenborg

Lisbon Smart City Program

Mobile opportunities, an Internet of Things - IBM

The life of the connected commuter - IBM

Mobility apps at a glance - Mobilotse.at

Collective transport recommendations

Call for External Demonstrations – European ITS Congress 2013 Deadline for Submissions Extended to 1 March

The deadline for interested parties to participate in External Demonstrations at the 2013 European ITS Congress has been extended until the 1 March

COMPASS first newsletter available

Experts behind Intelligent Transport - CGI

The "Internet of Mobility" - Building better ITS services in Europe

2013 is looking better than ever

Changing technology and evolving consumer demand

Interview with Abel Caballero

Second ECOeffect Polish demo-tour: It's all about the people

Your trip on a cloud

New EU project launches to develop an 'Internet of mobility' and simplify the deployment of intelligent transport services in Europe.

Future Internet event and Instant Mobility final demonstration

Increasing cross-border mobility in Central Europe

New EU project starts deploying road safety and energy efficiency services in seven European cities

On 28 Januray ERTICO - ITS Europe announced the launch of the new EU co-funded project Compass4D. The project will prove the benefits of cooperative systems and deploy services for road users to increase road safety and energy efficiency, while reducing the level of congestion in road transport.

Easy-OBU - Robust positioning made easy

Taxistars project is launched

Second issue of the smartCEM Newsletter

Cubic Transportation Systems Acquires NextBus, Inc.

Cubic Transportation Systems Acquires NextBus, Inc., Leader in Real-Time Passenger Information Solutions

Acquisition accelerates worldwide expansion opportunities for NextBus and extends Cubic's portfolio of information-based solutions

eSafetyAware Grant Application Deadline

New EU Project Supports Intelligent Mobility

New EU Project Supports Intelligent Mobility

ERTICO eMagazine: The USA goes cooperative

Looking at the current development of cooperative systems in the USA

ERTICO eMagazine: A Review of 2012

ERTICO eMagazine: FIA

ERTICO eMagazine: eCall Expands

APPLUS+ IDIADA to develop electric supercar

Registration & Accommodation Booking Now Open
Interactive online timetable available

Closing Speech by Professor Eric Sampson
ERTICO Chief Rapporteur